Kiss me, Harry Kill me, Harry
by drarryx
Summary: *WARNING: Slash fiction! Draco/Harry* This story takes place as Harry enters his sixth year at Hogwarts. It takes place from the 9th chapter onwards in book six, the Half Blood Prince. In other words, Harry is in his 6th year, he suspects Draco being a Death Eater... but he is also hiding some other feelings about Draco as well. Please read and review! Enjoy.
1. Kiss Me, Harry

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

_Author's Note:_ _I actually made the image before I wrote the story. I was just doing some random edits and did this one, and then decided to write a story to accompany it. Please R & R! Enjoy! _

**Chapter 1- Kiss Me, Harry**

Draco caught site of Harry, wandering the hall; alone. Making up his mind in a few short seconds, he walked briskly up behind the boy, grabbing his wrist.

Harry turned sharply as soon as the cold, pale hand clamped itself around his arm. He was surprised to find himself looking at Draco Malfoy.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked. He was in no mood for a fight, he just wanted to be alone, not to mention he had his suspicions.

Malfoy did not reply, but rather, began to pull Harry forwards until they had found an empty classroom. Harry struggled against the blonde's grip, but it only got tighter.

As they entered the abandoned room, Malfoy let go of Harry, but only after he had made sure the door was locked, with a flick of his wand and an incantation spoken inside his head.

"What do you _want, _Malfoy?" Harry repeated again, obvious irritation in his voice.

Draco didn't know how to say it; he didn't know how to explain what he wanted from Harry.

Slowly, he walked closer to the raven-haired boy. Stepping closer and closer. Harry's eyes widened with each step Draco took towards him, but he made no move to turn away.

Once Draco was close enough, he slid his lips over Harry's cheek and to his ear. His lips brushed the boy's ear as he whispered.

"Kiss me, Harry."

And Harry did. He didn't know what made him do it, but as soon as the blonde had whispered the command to him, he had obliged. He pressed his mouth to Draco's.

Without hesitation, Draco opened his mouth and his tongue slithered into Harry's. He licked every inch of the inside of Harry's mouth, shoving his tongue down Harry's throat.

Harry did much the same, and eventually broke his mouth away from Draco's, only to guide his lips down Draco's neck.

Draco cocked his head sideways as to allow Harry to suck ferociously on his neck. He began to groan as Harry ripped off Draco's shirt and proceeded to kiss every inch of Draco's chest.

As Harry worked his lips down Draco's arm, he saw the Dark Mark glistening there. He knew his worst suspicions had been confirmed, but at that moment he was too over taken by lust to mind. He licked the Dark Mark and then brought his lips back to Draco's mouth.

Only too soon had Draco pulled away.

"You're not mad?" he panted.

"That you're a Death Eater?" Harry asked, "Of course I'm not mad."

And as if to prove his point, Harry began to kiss Draco again, exploring the Slytherin's mouth with his tongue.

Both boys were groaning now, in pure pleasure, pure happiness, pure lust. It didn't matter that they were enemies. It didn't matter that Harry was the Golden Boy and Draco a Death Eater. It didn't matter that one was a Slytherin, the other a Gryffindor. Nothing mattered. But the two of them, together.

Hours passed and they did nothing but kiss. They kissed on the lips, they kissed each other's necks, cheeks and chests. They kissed and kissed and kissed until they realized that it was getting much too late and people will have begun to wonder about what they had gotten up to.

Draco carefully parted his mouth from Harry's and traced Harry's perfect lips with his tongue. Harry shoved his hands in Draco's hair and moved closer, as if to kiss again, but Draco lightly pushed him back.

"Harry, we have to go," Draco whispered.

Harry came close to Draco's ear and nibbled it before saying, "Of course, my love."

They helped each other dress and set off out of the room in different directions. No one would know they had been together.

As Draco headed back to the Slytherin Common Room, he couldn't ignore the feeling of pride that over took him. He had made the first move and it had worked. He had said 'Kiss me Harry' and Harry had. Harry had kissed him.

Harry, much like Draco, couldn't stop his giddiness from showing. He was so happy. He couldn't wait to snog the Snake again. He happily entered the Common Room and as if to make his day better, had a great night talking and laughing until well past midnight with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. It was as if, for only a day, all Harry's worries were gone.


	2. Restricted Section

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 2- Restricted Section**

The next day Harry woke up with the same buzz he had had all night from his and Draco's little snogging session. He could not wait to get up and see the blonde again. It was strange that he was feeling this way… well, no, actually it wasn't. Since their third year, Harry had always liked Draco. Well, that was not exactly true either. He had hated the bloody git's guts. Draco was cruel, vile, mean and a Slytherin. But, they say there is a very thin line between love and hate… and Harry supposed that was true. Yes, he had hated Draco, but he hadn't _only _hated Draco. There was something about those rude actions, those cruel spitting taunts, the unexplainable harassment that Harry just… well, loved. For years he had been trying to change his mind about what he felt. He didn't like the fact that this strange found love was always coated with hate. He didn't like that he couldn't talk to Ron or Hermione about it because Draco was a Slytherin, a Slytherin that was mean to all of them and on top of that, a boy. Harry was sure Hermione would be fine with the whole Harry being gay situation, but, Ron and him had shared a room for six years now and the news probably wouldn't be seen as pleasant. So, Harry had suffered to hide his feelings, to push them deep within his body. He had spat insults at Draco, always meaning what he said. He had never thought Draco would feel the same way. But Draco _did_. Draco had said "Kiss me Harry". Draco was the one who had asked for the kiss in the first place.

It was this thought that planted a goofy grin on Harry's face as he got up to get ready. The entire time he took a shower, got dressed, brushed his teeth and even on the way down to breakfast with Ron at his side, he thought about what had happened yesterday and how he was going to ask Draco for more.

"Yesterday was amazing. Let's do it again," Harry whispered gruffly to himself with an attempted sexy-sounding voice.

"What?" Ron exclaimed, looking over at Harry who was walking besides him.

Harry looked up, his face scarlet. Had he really just said that out _loud_?

"Oh, Uhm… I said: Yesterday when we talked about … that stuff … from … uh, last night, was great. We should talk more often?" Harry replied, his voice rising at the end of the explanation, which made him cringe as he realized how fake his words sounded.

Ron, being Ron however, did not completely catch Harry's lie.

"We talk loads mate. Now, come on, let's hurry up and get to the Great Hall already, I'm starving!"

Harry quietly sighed and then giggled a little bit, running his hand through his already messy hair as he entered the Great Hall, scanning the tables for Draco.

He walked over to the Gryffindor table with Ron, but as soon as he sat down he turned to resume his search for the blonde-haired boy. A familiar smirk caught his eye, and within seconds he was up again, and walking over to the Slytherins.

When he got there, he realized he couldn't say just about anything he was thinking of in front of them. Especially, 'Hey Malfoy let's go snog' which was the first thing that came to mind when he got there. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, every eye from the table staring at him.

"What do you think you're doing, Potter?" Draco suddenly spat. Apparently, all from last night was forgotten. "You can't just waltz on over to the Slytherin table you bloody Gryffindork!"

Worry was visibly showing on Harry's face as the Slytherins burst out laughing. He found himself opening his mouth to speak and words were shooting from his lips before he could even think about them.

"Yeah, Malfoy? I think I can do what_ever _I want!"

"And what is it that you _want_?" Draco smiled playfully.

"To _hurt _you," Harry spat.

"Yeah?" Draco questioned, "Well, alright you filthy Half-Blood. Let's go make some pain."

Harry suddenly realized what was going on and despite what everyone else thought to be a dangerous and hatred-filled conversation, he smiled. And Draco did too… well, Draco smirked that sexy smirk of his and walked briskly out of the Great Hall, Harry at his heels. The last thing that was heard before they were in a silent and empty corridor was the screaming taunt, "You get 'im Draco!" from that ugly pug-girl Pansy Parkinson.

It only took a second before Draco lunged at Harry and they were kissing again. Anyone who would walk out of the Great Hall would automatically see them, but at the moment, lust was dusting up Harry's brain again and he didn't mind. Draco seemed to though as only too soon he had pulled away.

"Harry, we've got class to go to," Draco said promptly. Harry looked at him skeptically, his eyebrows raised; since when did Draco care about class?

Suddenly, a small gang of Slytherin's left the Great Hall. Harry didn't really have time to comprehend why they looked surprised that a fight wasn't going on because almost a second after Harry had seen them, a fist punched him, hard, in the face.

"Bloody hell, Draco! What was that for?" Harry practically screamed. He saw that somehow, his wand and Draco's were far away on the floor. It seriously looked as if they had been wand fighting and then that had turned to physical battlement after they had disarmed each other. Luckily, the Slytherins were laughing too hard to have heard Harry call his nemesis 'Draco'.

Draco gracefully ducked behind Harry and picked up his wand only whispering, "Midnight, Restricted Section of the library, bring your Father's cloak. Yes, I know about that," to a baffled Harry clutching his nose before walking away to join the laughing Snakes.

Harry had no doubt in his mind that he would meet Draco tonight. It was going to be another wonderful night to remember. A thought was nagging at him, though and he couldn't figure out what it was. In Charms class he suddenly remembered.

"Ohhh!" he exclaimed, and then turned scarlet once again as he realized he had spoken out loud. The entire class turned to look at him, teacher included.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, "I… uhm… I think I understand something better?" He hoped this speaking-out-loud-ending-his-sentences-with-a-question-lying-thing wasn't going to become a habit.

That night when Harry went off to see Dumbledore (this meeting was the one he had remembered in Charms), he was giddy and excited. Ron and Hermione thought it was because of the visit with Dumbledore, but Harry knew it was because of the visit he would be having _after_ that… the one with Draco.

Although the entire meeting with Dumbledore passed extremely quickly, Harry could not say it wasn't interesting. They had talked about Voldemort's past, about his mother and her family mostly, but also about Voldemort's father's family and the possible ways Lord Voldemort had been conceived… Dumbledore believed it was under a love potion that the handsome Muggle man and Gaunt-woman had been married. As he headed slowly back to the Gryffindor Common Room, these thoughts among others burned in his mind. Thoughts about what Dumbledore had told him, what he suspected. It was almost enough to get his mind off Draco, until he let his mind rest on one of the last parts of their meeting.

He had asked Dumbledore if he could tell Ron and Hermione about the meeting and the things they had learned. Dumbledore had said yes, but not a word to anyone else. That meant Harry couldn't tell any of it to Draco… and Draco _was _a Death Eater. The thought made him uncomfortable.

Quietly, he entered the almost empty Common Room and headed up to his dormitory in which all the occupants were asleep, even Ron. He quickly grabbed the cloak and wrapped it around himself, giddiness taking over him once more. He had gone to the Restricted Section of the library before, also in the dead of night, also with the cloak. But that had been for what seemed like fairly innocent reasons compared to this.

After he had snuck back out of the Common Room, he practically ran to the library. And once he was there (at 11:55), he immediately threw off the cloak and scanned the room for a sign of Draco. He found the blonde leaning casually against a bookshelf. Harry smiled even more when he saw him.

"Cloak?" Draco asked and Harry went over to where he had thrown it, picked it up and handed it to him. Gently, Draco reached Harry by the waist and pulled him in, closer. He then took the cloak and spread it over both of them. It just fit over the two of them, covering them completely, but only if they were this close. And without even saying 'hello' Draco pressed his lips once more to Harry's and Harry did not stop the action.

A few moments later, the cloak had been flung to the side as Draco hurriedly unbuttoned Harry's shirt. Harry meanwhile sucked on Draco's neck but once Draco was finish unbuttoning, he moved to do the same. As Draco's shirt slipped off his slim body, Harry once again saw the Dark Mark. This shunted those uncomfortable feelings closer to him, almost suffocating the lust that was running his body. Draco had brought his lips back up to Harry's, but new thoughts were taking over Harry's mind. What were they doing? I mean… was this a relationship? Yes, they had kissed a couple of times, but they hadn't really done much else… like spoken to each other. And Harry wanted to be able to confine things in Draco, he wanted to be able to tell Draco as much as he told Ron and Hermione.

"Draco, stop," Harry said and Draco broke apart from him. Harry couldn't read the expression on his face.

"What are we doing?" Harry voiced aloud. "Just kissing? Or does this mean something to you, Draco?"

Draco's face was still unreadable, clouded by that stupid Slytherin mask.

Then, Draco smirked again. _God, why does he have to be so sexy?_ Harry thought.

"What do you mean, 'does this mean something'?" Draco asked.

"I mean… are we in a relationship?" Harry replied, feeling oddly childish as he did so.

"A relationship?" Draco responded. Harry was not exactly thrilled with this answer.

"Yes! Kissing isn't… I mean just because we kiss… I mean." Harry sighed. "Kissing is supposed to be important. We are supposed to _mean _something to each other," Harry finally said.

"I don't mean something to you?" Draco asked.

"No! I mean yes! You do mean something to me!" Harry said hurriedly. Draco was taking things the wrong way… this wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

"Do I mean something to you?" Harry asked, suddenly aware that maybe he was just something for Draco to do things with.

Draco stared at Harry hard for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was saying, trying to figure out what this all meant. The expression on his face was still unreadable. And then, he turned on his heel and left, just like that.

"Bloody coward!" Harry screamed after him, staring at the Draco's shirt and tie on the floor besides his own. He shouldn't have even opened his mouth. Things had been perfect and now... they weren't.


	3. Dinner in the Moonlight

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 3- Dinner in the Moonlight **

After Draco left, Harry stood for a few moments, staring into the darkness. Then, he pulled on his shirt and stuffed his tie in his pocket before throwing his father's cloak around him once more. Angrily, he headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. He was frustrated and not only upset with Draco, but also with himself for having to say something, for ruining such a perfect moment. He sat in the Common Room for a while, staring at the ever blazing fire and thinking. Eventually, he remembered that Draco's clothes were still in the Restricted Section. He fought with himself over whether or not he should collect the clothes. Draco could get in trouble, but then again, how would they know the clothes were his? They could be any Slytherins… finally Harry got up again and walked back down to the Library to retrieve the blonde's shirt and tie, even though his mind was still battling. What would Ron say if he woke up and saw Harry returning with a Slytherin's clothes? What would happen if Neville was seeking help on a piece of Charms homework and came across the tie whilst looking for Harry's homework? What would Dean do if he recognized the silver and green cuffs at the end of Draco's shirt and realize that it didn't belong to Harry? If Seamus found the clothing would he bring it up in front of all of Harry's other dorm mates? This was way too risky… but as Harry thought all of these things, he found himself once again outside the Fat Lady and about to enter the Gryffindor Common Room once more.

As soon as he reached his own dormitory, he did what he thought was the smartest thing to do; hid the clothing under his mattress. Then, he flung himself into bed and pulled the covers tight around himself before drifting off into a very uneasy sleep.

The next morning he woke up to find that almost everyone was still asleep. With a quick look at his watch, he let out a groan. It was only seven in the morning and he had stayed up well past midnight the night before, not to mention that he had had a terrible night's sleep full of worrying visions and nightmarish dreams. Seamus was the only other one awake.

"Tired? I'm guessing you didn't go to bed that early yesterday, huh?" he said.

Harry nodded.

"Yeah… only reason I'm up so early is because of a nightmare," Seamus continued. "Was about You-Know-Who and me mam and…" Seamus let his sentence drift off as he shuddered.

Harry and Seamus had stayed off the topic of his mother since he claimed that she thought Harry was making up lies the year before, but now that everyone knew Voldemort is back, Harry wouldn't be surprised if he was the only one having dreams about the cold-hearted wizard.

Harry nodded again, too tired to say anything. Seamus sat down on his bed and Harry saw that he was dressed and ready to go down to eat.

"I – I – I'll go get ready and we can g – g – go to the Great Hall together," Harry said, stifling two enormous yawns.

Within moments, they were walking and talking, or, well, Seamus was talking and Harry nodding tiredly, as they approached the Great Hall. It was Sunday, so Harry expected most people to be asleep. That didn't mean his heart didn't beat faster as they drew closer, anticipating whether or not Draco would have woken up by now.

Students were scattered around the Hall. Mostly Prefects, Head Boys and Girls, First Years that were still too excited about attending Hogwarts to sleep past seven and of course the few scattered students from Harry's own year. His eyes were once again stopped scanning the room when they met the bleach-blonde hair that could only belong to Draco. Draco had a scowl on his face, dark circles under his eyes and he was repeatedly stabbing his scrambled eggs without bothering to lift his fork to his mouth to eat them. Something told Harry that Draco had not had the greatest night either…

"Why're you staring at Malfoy?" Seamus asked, "Is it because he punched you?" Despite the fact that Harry was glaring at him, Seamus laughed a little. "Ah, a Pure Blood wizard resulting to Muggle tactics he hates you so much."

Harry laughed a little at this too, and then averted his eyes from the Snake as he sat down to eat breakfast, only to find that, much like Draco, the food was never actually reaching his mouth, just being pushed aimlessly around his plate. So, with a quick goodbye to Seamus who had just started a conversation with Dean who had just arrived, Harry left.

As he walked out the doors of the Great Hall, he heard a clattering of plates and a curse word that would have made Ron proud. And as he walked slowly up the stone steps of the castle, not exactly sure where he was going, he heard the same voice that had uttered the dirty word say, "Harry, wait."

Harry turned around, now having reached the top of the staircase and saw Draco Malfoy standing a few steps down. Malfoy briskly walked up so that he was at the top of the staircase, next to Harry.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked before he could think about his words. He felt slightly guilty… he had already ruined things last night; did he need to make it worse?

Malfoy's eyes flickered and Harry could tell he was thinking of walking off again, but instead, he swallowed his pride and said, "Look, Potterrrm – Harry, I… I'm sorry about last night."

Harry realized that this must have taken a lot of courage to say. Malfoy had never apologized to_ anyone _of Harry's knowledge and he was usually too prideful to have even thought of apologizing in the first place.

"I'm sorry too…" Harry said almost immediately, and he meant it.

"Look," Draco said, "I was wondering… if you wanted to…" Draco swallowed hard, "go on a date with me?" he ended the sentence with confidence, raising his pale eyebrows in anticipation for Harry's answer.

Harry smiled and nodded, "Draco Malfoy," he began, "do you want to be my boyfriend?" he said and as soon as he did so, his own eyebrows raised. Had he seriously just asked Malfoy to be his _boy_friend?

Draco opened his mouth to speak again but then thought about what he was going to say. After a few heart stopping moments, he finally replied, "It's strange isn't it? For years we hated each other… or at least appeared to," he added, noting the look on Harry's face, "And we kiss once and it's like we have always been the best of friends and are just taking it one step further." Draco looked up at Harry, a quizzical look now playing in his pale features, "And who would have imagined? The Chosen One and the Death Eater?"

Harry laughed a little bit and then asked, "Where is this date and when?"

Draco looked out a nearby window to see that the day was clear and sunny; the morning fog had ebbed away.

"Seven o' clock. Skip dinner and meet me by the Black Lake. I would say bring the cloak, but I think you would have figured that already."

Harry smiled and Draco leaned closer to him. Harry closed his eyes, preparing for another luscious kiss. He could feel Draco's breath on his lips and then… it disappeared. Harry opened his eyes to see Draco descending back down the stairs. Draco looked back and said, "For tonight, my love," before smirking and continuing down to the dungeons.

That night he snuck out of the Common Room before Ron or Hermione could ask him where he was going. Under a cloak of invisibility, quite literally, he swept through the castle and out the front doors. It was so much easier than it should have been, but Harry was grateful for that. He stood outside in a shadow of darkness, looking at the Black Lake. It was still and smooth, like glass and the only other movement in the night was the cloaked figure walking soundlessly closer to him. Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and the figure stopped. Harry's breath caught in his throat as he realized what an idiotic move that had been. If this was not Draco, but a guard or Filch, Harry was… well, to put it simply: screwed.

But then the figures hood fell back and the pale hair and pointed face were revealed, gleaming in the moonlight.

"For you," Draco whispered handing Harry a small box in greeting. Harry looked up at the blonde quizzically and sheepishly. He hadn't bought Draco anything.

Carefully he opened the midnight black box, to reveal what seemed to be a regular Gryffindor tie. He carefully pulled the tie out and saw that at the bottom of it, where the Gryffindor House Crest usually was, there had been a tweak in the design. The crest had been replaced with the _Slytherin _one. Harry looked up at Draco, whose eyes were glowing with pride.

"Thank you," Harry whispered.

"So you don't forget me," Draco clarified.

"Why would I forget you?" Harry asked.

"Look, Harry… I – I – I'm a Death Eater and you know it. We might not always be… together." Draco had actually meant to tell Harry something else, something to do with being a Death Eater, but something more important. He knew that spending this much time with Harry was unsafe for both of them… and he did have another deed that was preoccupying him. "Just keep it, alright?" Draco finally concluded.

Harry slipped off his own Gryffindor tie and handed it to Draco, who held it as Harry fastened the new tie around his neck. Draco then made the motion as if to give it back to Harry, but Harry held his hand out flatly, to wordlessly say 'stop'.

"Keep it," Harry said and Draco smiled as he slipped it in his pocket.

"Walk with me," Draco then pronounced and Harry obliged. They walked along the lake, hand in hand, talking about everything and nothing. Harry wondered if he should tell Draco that he had almost been placed in Slytherin. He supposed the tie expressed him more than Draco could have known.

When they reached the side of the lake that was farthest from the castle, Draco stopped and took out a small bag from within his pocket. He then proceeded to pull out of the bag a blanket and food, lots of food. _A picnic_, Harry realized, Draco had brought along a moonlight picnic for them to share together.

They sat down together along the lake and Harry was grateful for the food. After they had eaten and talked a bit more, Draco put down his goblet. With a swish of his wand, the food was gone and Draco leaned across and pressed his soft lips to Harry's.

Harry realized that tonight, he had seen a side of Draco he had never seen before. This romantic, loving side that only made Harry love Draco more.

They kissed by the moonlight, never stopping until the early hours of the morning when the cold morning air prickled their skin and the frost in the grass crunched as someone opened the doors of the castle and let a small group of students walk out.

Quickly, Harry took the Invisibility Cloak and threw it around both of them so that they were sat, huddled together by the lake in nothing but their boxers and briefs, smiling silently at each other as a group of Third Years walked by them off to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, not even knowing they were there.


	4. Silver and Opals

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 4- Silver and Opals**

Gratefully, Harry had a free period that morning in which he could run upstairs, shower, dress and actually get ready for the day. He was extremely tired, but he was also practically jumping around – living off the buzz that being with Draco for an entire night had given him.

As he headed off to Herbology, his first lesson for the day, he was practically glowing. But once he reached the Green House, his buzz was burnt out, but only slightly.

"Where were you!" Hermione shrieked as a greeting as he entered the warm and drowsy room.

"Yeah," Ron added quickly.

"Oh," Harry said.

"You weren't at dinner," Hermione continued, "and Ron said you didn't come to bed last night. We waited until midnight in the Common Room for you! And Ron reckons he stayed up about an hour after that waiting… and you know that we aren't supposed to wander the corridors at night, Harry!"

"Oh," Harry said again, brainstorming quickly, "Well, I did go to bed, but it was late… I was… with… er … Moaning Myrtle," Harry lied, trying to put a sheepish look on his face. When he thought back to the previous night, Harry immediately thought of the Lake. Having seen Myrtle in the Black Lake before, it was not a surprise that his lie had included her.

"Myrtle?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Why?" Hermione added unbelievingly.

"Well, I had gone there to sulk… the girl's toilets I mean. I was really annoyed with Snape for setting me detentions, not to mention all the homework we have been getting… and I am still kind of bummed about –" Harry's voice broke as he said this part – "Sirius' death…" he let the sentence trail off. Sirius. Harry had not thought about him since the new hype with Draco, and yet, now when he did, he felt the same burning sense of loss that had greeted him the night Sirius had fallen through that veil.

Hermione nodded sympathetically, as did Ron and Harry thought he had won over with the lie. But then, Hermione spoke again.

"For more than six hours, Harry?" she piped, "You were with Myrtle from seven at night until past one or two in the morning?"

"Alright," Harry said, "I was lying… but not completely." Hermione and Ron stared.

Harry, now inventing wildly said, "Myrtle took me too another Death Day party. A belated one for the – er – Fat Friar. It was loads better than Nick's… and actually interesting too. Did you know the Friar came a year late to Hogwarts?"

Hearing a piece of what sounded like fact, Hermione finally believed him and as soon as she did, Ron did as well. Harry was just thankful that _Hogwarts: A History _did not give that detailed of a life's story for the ghosts at Hogwarts.

Luckily, Harry did not have to back up his lie any further, as Professor Sprout, a usually quite kind and not so strict teacher, had come over and told them to concentrate. But this was really no surprise; all the teachers had been working them much harder lately. The work load was impossibly difficult, and the lessons had become more and more demanding. In fact, over the next few weeks, Harry was shocked that he had even managed to get any work done at all.

He was now meeting up with Draco almost every night he could manage, and attempting to stay on top at school was leaving him with far too little sleep. He had noticed that Malfoy seemed to be having the same problem. He was more disheveled than usual and often had dark circles under his eyes, yet he never refused to meet up with Harry. Harry wondered vaguely if it wasn't just himself and homework occupying Draco's time, but something else as well. But, Draco would have told him if something like that had been happening… wouldn't he?

As October came, so did the first Hogsmeade weekend. Harry had been excited for this, and was going to ask Draco to accompany him rather than his usual gang. He was sure he could tell Ron and Hermione just one more lie… besides, they hadn't even realized the first one was a lie yet, so they probably never would. But, on the morning in which Hogsmeade was taking place, Harry did not see Draco at breakfast, to his great disappointment. As he sat at the Gryffindor table, Ginny walked by.

"Want to go with us to Hogsmeade?" he asked her, seeing as he was going to go with Ron and Hermione already.

"Nah," Ginny replied, "I'm going with Dean." Harry felt slightly more dishearten at these words. Ginny had a date to go with, and he was sure tons of others had dates too… but his had suddenly fallen off the face of the earth.

After passing Filch and his attempts to find them all concealing dark items, Harry, Ron and Hermione finally managed to get into Hogsmeade, where Harry was met by yet another unpleasant surprise; Mundungus.

Mundungus carrying…

"Hey!" Harry yelled. "That's Sirius' stuff!" Anger bubbled in him… what did this blithering idiot think he was doing with Sirius' stuff?

But after an unpleasant encounter which brought Harry's temper to a breaking point, Mundungus merely Apparated out of sight.

And after a quick visit to the Three Broomsticks, they were out in the chilly autumn air once more, heading back to the castle.

It was a miserable and cold walk back and it only went from bad to worse. Ahead of the three of them Katie Bell and her friend were fighting. Harry could barely make out what they were fighting over because of the sleet blurring his vision, but he could see that it was something in a package.

Suddenly, without warning, Katie flew up into the air. Gracefully, arms outstretched, but eerily as well. She stayed like that for a moment, suspended in the air, wind ripping at her pale body and face, her hair tangling in the fierce sleet and wind gusts. And then, she screamed. It was a terrible, dreadfully loud, piercing noise, breaking the graceful silence that had appeared moments before. Her eyes were open, but they were seeing something quite beyond the sleety wilderness. She twitched and withered in the air, thrashing about in movements that reminded Harry of the Cruciatus Curse. Her friend started tugging at her ankles, her frightful screams mixing with Katie's blood curdling ones. Soon, Harry, Ron and Hermione had joined in, and Katie collapsed upon all of them, but did not stop her trembling. She thrashed around on the cold, hard ground, still screaming; a scream so frightening that Harry knew he would remember as long as he lived.

Harry had immediately run off to find help as soon as Katie was down from where she had been hovering, but he was frightened of the powers possessing her. He had never seen anything like this… it was eerie, mysterious and she was cursed. Katie had to have been cursed.

As he ran, he collided with Hagrid, who after hearing Harry's hurried and desperate explanation, ran after him to find Katie. As soon as Hagrid saw her, still flaying on the ground, he lifted her into his arms. Carrying her gently for such a giant man (quite literally), he ran off with her back towards the castle.

As soon as her screams died out, Hermione went to comfort Katie's friend; Leanne.

Ron meanwhile went over to the package, hand outreached as if to pick up its glittering, green contents.

"Don't!" Harry said sharply and Ron quickly withdrew his hand.

As Harry went over to look, he felt an odd sort of feeling when he saw it. Then his heart sank as he recognized where he had seen it before.

"That was at Borgin and Burkes," he said slowly, "four years ago… when I got trapped in Knockturn Alley. Dra – er – Malfoy was looking at buying it… it's cursed."

He looked up at Leanne. "How did you get this?"

"Katie came out of the girl's toilets holding it!" Leanne cried, "I told her not to t – t – t –touch it! She wouldn't tell me who it was from… I t – t – told her not to keep it!" A strange look came across Leanne's face, "I bet she had the Imperius Curse placed on her and I hadn't noticed! She kept saying it was a special gift for someone in Hogwarts and that she had to deliver it! Oh, why was I so s – s – stupid!" Leanne finished, tears pouring steadily down her face.

They finally decided the best thing to do would be to return to the school and show Madam Pomfrey the necklace. But, as the school drew steadily closer, Harry couldn't help but feel a certain anger bubbling up inside him. This necklace was from _Malfoy. _It had to be! Memories from what Malfoy had said on the train to Hogwarts crowded Harry's mind. Why had he trusted the Death Eater? The _prat_!

When he expressed these thoughts out loud, not able to hold them in any longer, Ron looked at him doubtfully.

"Harry, Katie got the necklace from the _girl's _toilets… and loads of people shop at that dingy old place…it could be anyone's cursed necklace."

Despite the fact that Harry had spent the last few weeks swooning over Malfoy, he now felt a sudden twinge of anger, hate… and regret. Malfoy was a _Death Eater_. He was dating a _Death Eater_. He should have listened to those uncomfortable feelings he had gotten when he was with Malfoy for the first few days. Now, he was realizing the extent of harm Malfoy could make. And yet, even though he believed full heartedly that this was Malfoy's fault, he still loved him. Harry still felt disappointed that he hadn't gone to Hogsmeade with him, he still felt happy about the night two days ago in which Malfoy and Harry had snogged in an abandoned Charms classroom and he even still felt blissful from the dinner by the Lake which had happened a few weeks ago. But… it was wrong. This was wrong. Katie was his _friend. _

Only too soon, his thoughts were interrupted as Professor McGonagall came rushing towards them.

"You four! My office… and what is that you are holding, Mr. Potter?"

"The necklace… the cursed one that Katie touched," Harry replied.

"Good lord," McGonagall whispered before handing the necklace to Filch (who had been walking towards them was his Dark Detector) and instructing him to take it carefully to Snape without touching it.

In mere moments they had reached the office, where McGonagall sharply asked them what had happened. Leanne told her story, but did not get very far as the tears leaking from her eyes were falling as such a steady pace and her voice had choked up so much, McGonagall sent her to Madame Pomfrey for a shock remedy.

Then, Harry, Ron and Hermione took over the story. As they were giving the account, Harry realized that he had not seen Dumbledore in quite a while. Wasn't he supposed to be giving Harry these lesson-things? But then Harry directed his hate towards Draco, as it was he, after all, that had been eating up so much of Harry's time.

"Can I see Professor Dumbledore please?" Harry asked as soon as the account of what had happened was told.

"Mr. Potter, he is not here at the moment," McGonagall replied sharply.

"Please?" Harry asked, needing to tell the Malfoy theory to someone who would listen.

"He is not in the school, Mr. Potter! Surely you can tell me what you need to tell him so desperately?" McGonagall retorted.

"Draco Malfoy gave her the necklace. It was Malfoy," Harry finally said.

Ron and Hermione averted their gazes from him, almost as if they were embarrassed of him.

"What is your proof?" McGonagall asked, "That is a very serious accusation, Mr. Potter."

Harry thought for a moment. The image of the Dark Mark on Draco's pale skin burned in his mind. The Dark Mark he had _licked_. Harry felt disgusted with himself. Then, he recalled a memory that since being with Draco, he had shunted to the back of his mind. It was the memory of Draco visiting Borgin and Burkes before the start of the school year; the detour.

He explained the event to Professor McGonagall, who still did not believe his theory. To make matters worse, Ron and Hermione began to argue about the theory as well. Harry thought about telling them about Draco's own, personal Dark Mark, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Especially because then he would have to explain how he had seen the Dark Mark in the first place and Harry supposed that he couldn't exactly say, "because I had ripped off his shirt and was in the process of snogging him and decided to lick the Mark as well."

"Enough!" McGonagall finally said after a few moments. "Potter, Mr. Malfoy was not even _in _Hogsmeade today! So how could he possibly be responsible for the delivery of that necklace?"

"What?" Harry asked, "How do you kno –" but he was cut off by Professor McGonagall's sour voice.

"Because Mr. Malfoy was attending a detention with me! He has now failed to produce two pieces of Transfiguration homework. Now if you three don't mind, I have to go see how Katie is in the Hospital Wing. Good day to you," and she left the room tartly.

Ron and Hermione walked out uncertainly after her and then turned to look back at Harry. He stared at them for a moment, before coming out of the room and pushing past them in a run. He was going to find Draco and ask him what the _hell_ was going on.


	5. 7th Floor Quarrel

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 5- 7****th**** Floor Quarrel **

"Come on where _is _he?" Harry muttered, scanning the Marauder's map. He was up in his dormitory, and had scanned the artifact twice and yet he couldn't find Draco at all. Harry was even starting to consider that Draco had left the castle, but then a small dot bearing the blonde's name suddenly appeared, in the seventh floor corridor. It was so sudden, Harry wondered if he had been careless enough to pass over it and not see it. But he didn't wonder any further as in moments, he was out of the Gryffindor Common Room and rushing towards where he had seen Draco on the map.

Once he caught sight of the blonde, he yelled in confusion, frustration and anger.

"Malfoy!"

Malfoy did indeed look up, a flicker of hope shining briefly in his grey eyes as he saw Harry standing there. As he did so, Harry was momentarily shocked by his appearance. His hair, usually straight and combed looked like it had not been brushed all day, at the least. Underneath his cold, grey eyes were dark purple circles so deep in color Harry wondered if he had slept at all in the past few days. The eyes were also red, bloodshot and puffy, as if he had been crying. Draco's lips were cracked and he was holding himself differently; instead of the prideful strut usually carrying him, he was walking slowly and heavily, as if putting every bit of effort in just to move.

Malfoy stood, staring at Harry for a moment, when Harry finally snapped out of it. Malfoy was tired because he was sending cursed necklaces to… but then Harry realized he didn't know who the necklace had been to.

"Look Malfoy," Harry spat, "Katie Bell is in the hospital because of you."

Draco's back straightened as he drew himself to full height. Even his tired eyes seemed to brighten in worry as he heard this.

"Harry… what are you ta –" but Harry cut him off.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!" he snarled. "Draco, I'm not an idiot! I know something is going on and I think I just discovered what! You are trying to hurt someone, Draco. Even kill them."

What color was left on Draco's pale skin had now disappeared. His entire body seemed to become thinner as his skin became an inhumane pale.

"Harry… did… did Katie touch a necklace?" he whispered.

"Yes!" Harry screamed. "Yes, Malfoy she touched a cursed necklace which you bought in Borgin and Burkes and she could have died! For all I know she _is dead_!"

"Harry, wait, you have to listen to me!"

"No I don't, Malfoy! I want answers. Who were you trying to send that necklace to and why? I thought you were different than the other Death Eaters! I thought you didn't kill! I thought that you and I could work!"

Harry's voice cracked as he added the last part. Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't their relationship work? Why had Harry been born into a life where his parents had to be killed and responsibility always dumped on him? Before he had even turned twelve, he had fought the Dark Lord. When he was in his second year, he had saved a girl's life. In his third year, he had rescued himself and others from Dementors. When he was fourteen, he had been placed against tasks that could have killed him not to mention he fought the Dark Lord again! And last year, just last year he had witnessed another death that was his fault and he had had the responsibility of training others in his hands. Everyone thought he could handle this. Everyone thought that surely, the "Boy Who Lived" could handle anything. But this was it. He was done with it all! He couldn't even be with the one he loved because he was the bloody Golden Boy!

"Harry, calm down!" Draco finally yelled back. "We can work! This can work!"

"NOT IF YOU ARE A BLOODY DEATH EATER! FOR ALL I KNOW THAT NECKLACE WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL ME!"

"Listen to me, Potter!" Every ounce of tiredness that Draco had shown was now gone, anger taking its place. "I didn't ask for this to happen!"

"You were the one who sent the bloody necklace! You were the one trying to hurt someone! How could you not have 'asked for it to happen'?" Harry quoted the words mockingly with his fingers.

"You don't understand! You've never had to do what I have to do!" Draco retorted.

"WHO WAS THE GOD DAMN NECKLACE FOR, MALFOY?" Harry screeched.

"Dumbledore!" Draco finally yelled back. "Dumbledore," he repeated, this time calmer. His voice was now back to a normal level. Harry was too shocked to say anything, trying to let the words seep in. When he thought about it, it did make sense. Of course the Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself, would want Dumbledore dead…

"Why?" Harry asked suddenly, but before Draco could answer he added, "Why you?"

Draco looked up at Harry, who now had tears in his eyes. Why Draco? Why his lover? Why not some other heartless Death Eater?

"Because, my love, punishment. My family is being punished which is why I have to do this. If I don't kill Dumbledore, V – Voldemort will kill me and my family," Draco said quietly.

"Oh, and I suppose I wouldn't know how that would feel. To have your parents be killed! Murdered!" Harry yelled, his anger rising again. "Why didn't you tell me, Malfoy? Why?"

"I tried!" Draco yelled back his voice begging for forgiveness, "Harry, look, I tried! I tried to tell you but I couldn't bring myself to. I knew you would react like this and I didn't want to lose you! You mean so much to me. I can't lose you, Harry." Draco gulped, bringing his shining blue-grey eyes up to meet Harry's vibrant green ones.

"Well you just did," Harry said flatly and he walked away, Draco watching him leave, feeling as if his heart was being pounded on with every step Harry took.


	6. Anger, Confusion, Quidditch, Confessions

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 6-Anger, Confusion, Quidditch, Confessions**

Harry headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, walking away from Draco, his heart beating fast and his breathing uneven. How could he have been so stupid? It all fit together! Draco was looking as if he hadn't slept because not only was he busy with piles of homework, or playing with Harry's heart, but he was also creating a plan in order to kill their Headmaster! Draco hadn't been at Hogsmeade because he had been in detention since he was not doing all his homework, preferring to hatch a diabolic plot to murder Dumbledore instead!

With every step Harry took, he noticed another thing that hinted to Draco the Death Eater trying to hide something from Harry; trying to kill the best Headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen. He remembered the night in which they had snogged by the Lake, and Draco had been about to say something, probably about to tell Harry what he was going to do, but then thinking better of it.

As Harry reached the Fat Lady, he practically screamed the password at her and bounded into the room angrily, attracting many stares. He growled as he walked up to his dormitory, slamming the door once he entered and throwing himself down on his bed. Why did this always happen to him? First he had tried things with Cho and they had ended in disaster. And now this was ending in disaster. Everything _always _ended in disaster. Nothing could ever work out for him, could it? Maybe, if he had been born into a different family, none of this would happen. Maybe he could go through a year at Hogwarts without being in mortal danger. Maybe he could have a real relationship with someone for once and not have Voldemort getting in the way. Life was never said to be easy, but why did it have to be this hard?

But despite all of that, the thing that made Harry the angriest was that he still loved Draco. It sounded so pointless when he thought it, so cheesy. _I hate what he is doing but I still love him. _What was this? Some kind of messed up drama show? If only it was… but no, it was harsh and brutal reality. Draco was not some bloody actor from Muggle television. He was a real person, with a very real job; kill Dumbledore.

The bloody bastard! Harry felt tears rising to his eyes. It just wasn't _fair_! For either of them. It was Voldemort, all Voldemort, all his fault. Hot wet tears slipped down his face as he wailed. He couldn't stop them from falling. Everything was just so screwed up and there was nothing he could do. By the end of the year, another one of his closest almost-family members would be dead. Whether that was his father figure, Dumbledore, or his boyfriend (were they still together?) Draco,one would be dead. Like Sirius, like Cedric, like his parents. Dead. Gone. Forever.

Harry woke a few hours later to find himself fully dressed, on top of the covers on his bed and with his shoes still on. He hadn't been down to dinner and he had fallen asleep crying, the feelings of confusion and loss rocketing in his brain even though neither of the two had died… yet.

Slowly he got up and checked the clock. It was only eight at night and no one was in the dormitory yet. That's when he remembered; today he had another meeting with Dumbledore. Harry hurriedly headed to it, wondering if this was the last time he'd ever see the man alive.

The next morning, he skipped breakfast, although he was starving, in order to not have to see Draco. He was going to try and avoid the blonde, as he didn't know if he wanted to be with him or not. He headed to the Green House with Ron and Hermione for Herbology, but whilst Harry wished they could remain quiet and leave him to his thoughts, they insisted he tell them about the meeting with Dumbledore.

"I saw some more memories about Voldemort as a kid," Harry said, not really interested. Dumbledore seemed to have a great plan in mind for Harry and how he was to defeat the Dark Lord, but at the moment, Harry was really too wrapped up in his Draco problems to think about how to defeat Voldemort. Then again, maybe if he did defeat him, Draco and Harry could be together after all. But how was Harry supposed to defeat Voldemort without Dumbledore? And how was Draco to survive if Dumbledore didn't die?

The rest of the day passed in a blur, almost as if the hours were nonexistent but Harry was jerked back to reality when walking in the corridor with Ron and spotted Ginny and Dean snogging. Soon enough, Ron and Ginny were spitting insults at each other, but it wasn't until Harry heard his name that he looked up.

"Look Ron! You only don't like me snogging Dean because you're jealous! You've never snogged anyone before and everyone else has! Harry's snogged – "

Harry's head jerked up. Did Ginny know? Was Ginny going to tell Ron?

"Cho! And Hermione's snogged Krum!" Harry let a sigh escape from his lips as Ginny stalked off. For a second there, he had thought that… well, he had thought that Ginny was going to spill that Harry and Draco were having regular snogging sessions. But how would she know?

However, in the next few days, Draco was almost completely whipped from Harry's mind because of the upcoming Quidditch match… or he would have been, had the upcoming Quidditch match had not been against Slytherin.

Draco, of course, would not be playing, spending his hours doing deeds for the Dark Lord rather than devoting time to Quidditch, but seeing as Slytherin was fresh in Harry's mind, Draco was too. On the day of the match, Harry, who was usually buzzing with nerves was feeling numb and empty. It had been days since he and Draco had talked, days since they had kissed and days since they had fought. Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted to kiss, speak or fight with Draco but all he knew was that his thoughts would not let the blonde leave his mind.

As Harry was playing Quidditch, it seemed like nothing could go wrong, until Harper, the Seeker taking Draco's place, dived for the snitch. Harry, not knowing what possessed him to say it suddenly shouted, "Oi, Harper! How much did Malfoy pay you to play instead of him?"

For once, thinking about Malfoy turned out to be a good thing as the question Harry had just posed made Harper fumble and allowed Harry to catch the snitch with a triumphant "YES!"

In the changing rooms, Draco was swept from Harry's mind once again as he explained that they had won the match without the lucky potion he had pretended to put into Ron's drink that morning. He had even almost forgotten that he had pretended to slip Ron the potionrink because his thoughts were so occupied with visions and memories all revolving around that one Slytherin boy. The conversation ended, like it usually did, with Ron and Hermione quarreling. It was only made worse when Harry reached the Common Room to find Ron snogging their fellow Gryffindor, Lavender Brown. And only after this, when he found Hermione sitting alone in an abandoned room, did Draco enter his mind again.

"Did you see them?" Hermione whispered as Harry entered, tears shining in her eyes and threatening to fall down her cheeks.

"Yes," Harry said quietly.

"Harry," Hermione began, "Harry… I – I" but she didn't seem able to finish her sentence.

"Look, Hermione. I know how you feel."

She looked up at him.

"I know what it feels like to like someone when they like someone else. I know what it feels like to think someone is your friend, to think they would never betray you and then to have them do something behind your back. Or to not tell you something… to conceal things from you."

Hermione nodded slowly, although the last part of what Harry had said didn't really apply to her.

"I do like him, you know," she whispered, as if she were admitting it to only herself.

Harry embraced her in a hug, knowing exactly what she was going through.

But then, the door burst open and Ronald and Lavender were standing there, laughing and giggling.

Ron, however, fell silent when he saw Hermione.

"Oops!" squealed Lavender giddily and went to leave the room. Ron followed, but Hermione turned around and shouted "Oppungno!"

Small yellow birds which Hermione had been creating, suddenly flung themselves at Ron who screamed "Get off! Get off!" as they did so. Hermione then left the room, crying, Harry close to her side.

Once again, Harry felt numb and empty as he headed up to his dormitory. Seeing Hermione cry over Ron and seeing Ron in a relationship made him remember Draco more clearly than ever. Their fighting reminded him of his and Draco's fighting. Hermione attacking Ron reminded harry of the countless times Draco and he had attacked each other… before they had become a pair. Once again, the feelings of regret, anger and confusion possessed his body. He didn't know if he wanted to be with Draco anymore, but he couldn't take the silence. Tomorrow, he would talk to Draco and whether that meant they were back together or not, Harry didn't care. But this needed to be sort out.


	7. I'm sorry

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 7- "I'm sorry"  
**

That night Harry had worked out a little plan in his head for how he was going to start talking to Draco. When he woke up the next morning, the 'plan' was fresh in his mind. Almost giddily, he got dressed and dashed down to the Great Hall. He was so excited that when he walked into a practically empty room, he was actually taken by surprise. It was extremely early and on a Sunday morning, and yet he hadn't taken into account that when he entered the Great Hall, Draco would not already be in there.

Slowly, Harry made his way to a completely deserted Gryffindor table. The only other people in the Hall besides himself were two Ravenclaw students, huddled in the corner and pointing at some unknown piece of parchment they shared and Professor McGonagall. Glancing at his watch, Harry wondered vaguely if McGonagall always got down to the Great Hall at half past four in the morning.

Every now and again, a person would shuffle into the Great Hall, and as time went by, bigger and bigger groups walked in and the House and Staff Tables became occupied. As Harry greeted Dean Thomas, who had just sat down next to him, a sharp laugh and drawling voice caught his ear. Looking up, he saw that Draco had just entered the Hall, laughing with his gang of Slytherins. Hazardously, knocking over both his and Dean's Pumpkin Juice as he did so, Harry stood up and walked briskly over to where the Slytherins were standing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw McGonagall looking sharply at him as he approached them, but he didn't take much notice of her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Potter!" Pansy shrieked as Harry approached, "What do you want, Potter?" she then added.

"Malfoy," Harry said slyly, a grin appearing on his face. "I want revenge for when he punched me."

"Aw, little Potter's still thinking about how big bad Malfoy punched him," she sneered, snaking her hand around Draco's waist. He promptly slapped her hand away and she looked up at him with mild shock as a pout etched its self into her pug-like features.

"Yeah, Potter?" Malfoy said, stepping closer to Harry and away from his small gang, a small smile playing on his lips. Harry made a fist with his hand and brought it back, preparing to throw a punch which wouldn't actually hit Malfoy's face, but miss it slightly, posing a reason for them to head out of the Hall to 'duel' whilst really sorting out their relationship troubles.

SMASH.

Harry saw, with horror, that his punch had actually hit the blonde in the face, on the very edge of his cheek, down by his jaw bone.

"Wait until my father hears about this, Potter!" Draco screamed, clutching his angular jaw where Harry's fist had hit at such a force, a bruise was beginning to form already. The joking tone Draco had been using was completely gone from his voice.

"Potter!" came the sudden shout from behind them, "Malfoy! What are you two doing?"

"It's Potter's fault!" shrieked Pansy, attempting to hug Draco, who despite the pain he must have been feeling from Harry's punch, stopped clutching his jaw and pushed her off of him.

"Not so fast!" called Seamus from the Gryffindor table, bounding over to the scene which was rapidly attracting attention.

"Malfoy hit Potter first!" Seamus finished.

"Yes, but that was ages ago!" shrieked Blaise, a Slytherin now following in Seamus' steps and approaching the scene.

"Enough!" McGonagall yelled over the protests that were now erupting from both the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables.

"Detention, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy. My office, next Sunday at eight. And 50 points from _both_ your houses." And then she walked away, fuming.

_Great,_ Harry thought. _This was not how things were supposed to go. _But then, he found himself being pulled by the hand out of the crowd, by Draco Malfoy, who had his wand pointing at Harry. As soon as they were in a deserted corridor, Draco raised that wand and was about to shoot a spell when Harry screamed, "Wait!"

Draco did not say the spell, but he also did not lower his wand. Harry could see that a black and purple bruise was forming rapidly on Draco's pale and fragile skin.

"Draco, I'm sorry!" Harry finally said. "I didn't mean to punch you, I was just trying to get us alone so that I could talk to you! Really, I didn't mean for you to get a bruise or anything!"

Draco did not lower his wand.

"Potter, I'm a Death Eater," he finally said quietly, "Do you really want to apologize to a supporter of the man who killed your family?" Harry could hear Draco's voice shaking.

"You don't support him," Harry whispered. "I'm sorry about the other night Draco. I'm sorry that I stormed away, that I got angry. I realize that you have to do this. I get it. I would do anything to get my family back. I understand that you don't want to lose yours."

Draco lowered his wand, a tear shining in his grey eyes.

"In a way, we are very similar," Harry continued. "Voldemort tried to kill my entire family, me included, and now he is trying to kill yours, you included."

Harry looked straight at Draco, "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be," Draco said, "I was the one at fault. I was the one who hurt your friend. I was the one who could have caused death. I am the one who is going to kill."

"I know," Harry whispered, his eyes now looking at the ground. "I know, but…"

In an instant, Draco was standing so close to Harry that they were practically one person. Draco lifted Harry's chin from the floor.

"You still want to be with me," Draco whispered, finishing the sentence Harry had started. And then, whatever space that was left in between them was closed as Harry and Draco kissed. A long, lingering kiss.

"Yes," Harry whispered back when they broke apart. "Yes…"

And from then on, Draco and Harry began to secretly meet up again. At night, between classes, early in the morning… and it was a pleasant break from what was going on otherwise.

It was not at all easy to maintain friendships with Ron and Hermione as they were not speaking to one another, and constantly talking, or complaining about each other to Harry. As a result, he often kept his mouth shut and rarely spoke. It was only when Hermione had brought up Slughorn's Christmas party that Harry said something. Hermione was telling Harry to ask someone already, as she knew loads of girls trying to slip him a love potion.

"Just ask someone!" she whispered, as they were sitting in the library.

"I can't," Harry whispered back, Draco fresh in his mind. The only person he would want to ask would be the blonde and how would he look turning up to a Christmas party with a Slytherin _boy _snaked around his arm?

"Wait…" started Harry, "That means that the love potions are going past Filch right, if all these girls are getting them?"

"Yes," Hermione whispered, "So?"

"Filch is being tricked! That means that Dra – Malfoy could've snuck that necklace in!" Harry said triumphantly.

"Not this again, Harry!" Hermione whispered urgently back.

Although Harry didn't want to get Draco in trouble, he did want to prove he was right. He had been correct about Malfoy delivering that necklace, but the proof he had, of Draco confessing to Harry that it had been him, he couldn't share with Ron and Hermione. It made him angry that they didn't believe his theories and it frustrated him that he couldn't tell them the truth.

The discussion was soon ended however, as they were sent from the library.

The next day, Hermione and Ron were taunting each other yet again, which left Hermione in tears. As Harry went to comfort her, he saw Luna Lovegood coming out of the bathroom with Hermione.

The bushy haired Gryffindor was soon off though, leaving Harry and Luna to an oddly honest conversation; how things normally were with Luna. But then, Harry found himself blurting out something very non-normal.

"Want to go to Slughorn's party with me? As friends!" he added hastily. Luna seemed completely beside herself.

"Me? I've never been to a party with someone as friends! I would love too! Oh thanks Harry!" And she skipped off merrily.

Thanks to Peeves, who had heard their encounter, the entire Great Hall knew about Luna being taken by Harry to the party. As Harry left dinner that evening, a sleek hand slipped its self around Harry's waist and he found himself being pulled into a broom cupboard.

"Why did you ask Lovegood?" Draco Malfoy's silky voice whispered into the darkness of the closet.

"As friends," Harry whispered back, making his motives completely clear.

"You could've asked me," Draco replied, "as friends…"

"But, Draco – "

"Yes, I supposed you are right," Draco interrupted, "We're not friends, are we." His breath was hot on Harry's neck as he spoke. "We're enemies, nemeses, Death Eater and Golden Boy." And then Harry felt the lips speaking these words, slide slowly up his neck until they reached his mouth. Draco pressed his tongue against Harry's lips which then opened and let the tongue explore his mouth. They kissed lustily for a few moments, before Draco broke apart, whispered, "See you in detention tomorrow" and left the room with a satisfied smirk glowing on his face.

Harry then made his own way out of the cupboard, also grinning, as he headed back to Gryffindor Tower in order to get ready for the party. The rest of the night was almost completely uneventful, until at the party when Filch came in, dragging Draco by the ear.

Harry was happy to see Draco's presence, but confused as well.

"This boy was lurking and claims he was invited to your party," Filch said promptly to Slughorn, who happened to be standing next to Harry.

"Alright, I was gatecrashing, happy?" Draco spat at Filch. Harry was trying to catch Draco's eye, but it looked as if the blonde was avoiding his gaze.

"You are going to see the Headmaster!" Filch wheezed. "No night time prowling!"

"It's alright," said Slughorn with a hiccough, "Its Christmas!"

Harry smiled gleefully. Draco _could _go to the party with him after all! Well, kind of…

But he was surprised to see Draco looking almost as equally unhappy as Filch was from being denied the pleasure of giving a student detention. Soon, however, Draco had put a smile on his face and was politely thanking Slughorn for letting him stay.

Harry stared at Malfoy. He noticed the boy looked ill… Harry realized he hadn't gotten a proper look at him today, since he had only really seen the boy when they had that short snogging session, and that was in the dark. Harry could see that the bruise on Draco's cheek was gone, thanks to an immediate visit to Madame Pomfrey after he had sorted things out with Harry, but Draco's pale skin had a greyish tinge to it, and the dark circles under his eyes were more prominent than ever.

"I would like a word with you, Draco," Snape suddenly said and despite Slughorn's attempts to let Draco stay, Snape dragged him off.

"I'll be back soon Luna – er – I need to use the toilet," Harry lied easily, before following the Slytherin Prefect and Slytherin Head of House.

He threw the Invisibility Cloak, which he had had in his pocket, over his head and rushed down to find Snape and Draco. Finally, he reached a door in which he heard voices from. It sounded like Snape was talking to Draco about the necklace incident.

"I didn't have anything to do with it!" Draco cried.

"Someone already suspects you," Harry heard Snape yell back. He felt his stomach sink guiltily, that was him. He had told McGonagall that he suspected Draco…

"And stop looking at me like that! I know what you are trying to do and it's not going to work!" Draco suddenly spat.

"Ah," said Snape coolly, "I see that Auntie Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency. What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your Master, Draco?"

Harry's heart leapt as Draco spat, "None of your business!" Harry was thankful Draco was good at Occlumency; he didn't want Draco, or his own, lives in any more danger than they already were… but then again, if Lord Voldemort looked into Harry's mind…Harry was not good at Occlumency… not to mention this strange bond him and the Dark Lord had made it so much easier for them to see inside each other's minds.

Harry suddenly heard a drop in voices, which forced him to push his ear to the door keyhole in order to continue listening.  
"I made the Unbreakable Vow to your mother that I would protect you, Draco," Snape whispered.

"Well you are just going to have to break it!" Draco yelled, "I have a plan and it's going to work, alright? I don't need your protection!"

This took Harry by surprise, but _why should it?_ Harry thought. He knew Draco was a Death Eater, no doubt he had a plan to kill Dumbledore…he wasn't going to stop trying just for Harry…

Harry was once again snapped out of his thoughts as he heard light footsteps, no doubt belonging to Draco, approaching the door. In less than a second, he had managed to get out of the way as the door was flung open and Harry watched the Snake retreat into the darkness.

As Snape then left the classroom, Harry stayed where he was, hidden by the cloak. He knew what he was in for. He knew Draco was a Death Eater…so why did that conversation take him by surprise?

Slowly, Harry headed back to the party. _It doesn't matter_, he told himself. And he believed it. It was going to take some getting used to, all this secretive stuff and being on different sides, but that wasn't going to stop Harry from being with Draco. Harry wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that.


	8. Detention

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

_Author's Note: In this chapter, I needed some words to be crossed out, but because of fanfictionnet's set out, I couldn't do that. SO, the** BOLD **words in this chapter are words that are supposed to be crossed out. If you want to see the original version, PM me and I will send it to you. _**  
**

**Chapter 8- Detention**

Harry and Draco were standing outside of Professor McGonagall's office the next day. Harry had not mentioned the conversation he had heard, and he had no plans to. But then, Draco brought up the subject.

"Sorry about last night," Draco said. Harry looked up at him expectantly. "For not acknowledging that you were there. I realize that I was acting quite rude, not even saying hello," Draco explained.

"Oh," said Harry. He hadn't been sure what Draco was going to say, but he didn't expect it to be an apology about why Draco didn't look at him during their brief encounter at the party.

"No, it's fine," Harry said quickly, waving his hand as if to wave off the matter.

"What's wrong Potter?" Malfoy sneered, sensing that Harry wasn't revealing something. Potter had become a term not used to insult, as it had been before, but more of a pet name… a strange showing of affection if there ever was one.

"What is your plan?" Harry asked suddenly. He saw Draco's eyes widen, but only for a moment. Draco opened his mouth, as if to respond, but then the door of McGonagall's office was flung open.

"Potter. Malfoy," she said coolly, a tart expression on her face. "Come in."

Draco and Harry entered her office. "Now," the Professor began, "You boys were put into detention for fighting, so as a detention I've decided you will have to write a formal apology to one another, than you may go."

Professor McGonagall gestured to two desks, each on the opposite side of the room and each with a piece of paper, quill and ink well sitting on them. Harry was surprised to see Draco smirk as the strict Head of Gryffindor House turned her back. Before they headed off to their desks, Draco muttered quietly, "Running out of detention ideas, isn't she? Apology letter, that's a laugh."

Harry couldn't help but giggle as he headed off to his desk, a sound which made Professor McGonagall's head look up sharply. Harry caught her eye for a second, but then quickly averted his gaze.

"The entire page, should be full," McGonagall said suddenly. Harry snuck a glance at Draco, who was already hunched over his paper. Harry looked down at his own. What was he supposed to write that would fill up the entire page? Harry began by writing: _Malfoy_, his reasonably messy handwriting taking up a big space on the page. Then, he turned the page over and started again. After a fair few crossing outs, his letter read:

_Dear Mr. Draco Malfoy,_

_I owe you a since apology for fighting with you the other day in front of everyone in the Great Hall. _**_Fighting with fists is for Muggles, not Wizards. _**_I should not have punched you. It was greatly uncalled for. _**_Greatly, get it? Because we were in the Great Hall?_**

_What I mean to say is, it will not happen again. _**_Now, I need to fill up the rest of this bloody piece of paper…_**_I promise that if there ever is another episode, **I will help you with your homework. I will clean out your bag. I will make it up to you by snogging you. **I will take all the blame myself. _

_You,_**_ your pure-blood highness_**_**,** do not deserve to be punched. Or harmed in any other way. I realize now that my actions were very offensive and wrong. _**_And I have no doubt that your father will hear about this. _**

_Please accept this apology and know that I only punched you because _**_I am a Big Headed Golden Boy and wanted attention. _**_It made me angry that you had punched me before. But just note that I am not blaming you, I am just explaining why I did what I did. _

_I hope you find this apology sincere enough because __**it's a bloody page long**. __I put a lot of effort into writing it. _**_and as you can see had to cross out tons of 'inappropriate' messages that I am sure would have just earned me another detention._**

**_Yours sincerely, _**

**_Love,_**

_With much apology, _

_Harry Potter _**_(the 'Chosen One')_**

Harry looked up from his letter to see Malfoy smirking in satisfaction at his own. Their eyes met briefly and their hands shot into the air at the same time.  
Professor McGonagall looked up, and then came and collected their letters. Then, instead of reading them in her head and handing them back out, to Harry's horror, she began to read them aloud.

"Dear Mr. Draco Malfoy," she began and Harry felt his face flush red as Draco stifled a laugh. Sometimes during reading his letter out loud, McGonagall would pause and try to read the things Harry had crossed out. But, once she reached the part which had 'snogging' crossed out, she obviously thought she was having too much trouble reading the crossed out parts to carry on doing so. From then on, she read the letter without stop and then said, "Well done, Potter," before thrusting the letter into Draco's hands. Draco carefully folded it and slipped it into his pocket. Then smiled as McGonagall began to read the letter _he'd _written.

"Dear Potter, I am very, very sorry for getting into a fight with you by using my fists and not my _wand._"

Harry's eyes widened.

"I promise you that if I ever get into a fight with you again, I will let you take a ride on my _broom _so that I can make it up to you."

At this, Harry's mouth fell open. Did Malfoy really mean what Harry thought he meant?

"And, if you ever decide to _do _anything to me, my father or any teacher will definitely _not_ hear about it, as I will have probably done something to _you _just as _nasty_."

At this, Harry looked gapingly at Professor McGonagall. Had she really not picked up on any of this? He saw with sudden fear that she was looking sternly at Draco.

"Now, really Draco, do you think it is good to put a reference to future violence in an apology?" she questioned. Harry's mouth fell open wider, if possible. She really hadn't picked up on any of it?

"Sorry, Professor," Malfoy smirked and Professor McGonagall read on.

"And to end this apology, I would just like to say that I am sorry in advance for any future arguments and am very sorry for all the times we fought in the past, as we could have been doing _other things_. Maybe if you had been put in Slytherin, we could have _shared a dormitory. _And become _better than friends. _All I am trying to say is, maybe we should start doing all these _things _now. I am very sorry. Yours, Draco M."

Harry did not dare look away from his shoes for the fear of bursting out laughing.

"Very good Malfoy. Potter, I think you should take the boys advice and you too should try to maintain friends rather than enemies," she finished.

Harry was shaking with silent laughter as he took the letter from her hands and left the room as quickly as possible. As soon as Draco had filed out and closed the office door, both of them burst out laughing.

"Malfoy!" Harry said "Your letter!" he couldn't say anything else as his ability to talk was cut off by his laughter.

"What about yours, Potter?" Malfoy replied, now taking out Harry's letter and scanning the crossed out bits. "Were you really going to write: I promise that if there ever is another episode, I will make it up to you by snogging you?"

Harry was now laughing so hard he actually had to stop walking. As his laughter died down a little bit, Draco escorted him all the way up to the 7th floor in order to bring him to his Common Room, them laughing and comparing letters the entire time.

"Alright, well, I'm off to bed," Harry finally managed to gasp as they stood outside the Fat Lady.

"Mind if I Slyther-in?" Draco replied.

Harry fell into another laughing fit and once he had calmed down (again), Draco brought his lips to Harry's. Harry swooned as Draco's cool tongue explored the cavern that was his mouth, but they were forced apart as the Fat Lady said, "Are you two going to snog all night or is young Harry going to come to bed?"

Harry immediately broke away from Draco after this was said, and was about to wave him goodbye whilst entering the Common Room. But, Draco pulled him back so that Harry's ear was next to the Slytherin's soft lips.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," Draco whispered. And the Harry remembered. The next morning he would be off to the Weasley's for Christmas. "I have something for you," Draco continued. Then he removed his lips from Harry's ear and brought them to Harry's mouth. Softly biting Harry's lower lip, he said, "But, I'll have to give it to you when you get back. We won't have enough time tonight."

Then, he pulled away from Harry, leaving Harry buzzing with happiness as Draco retreated into the darkness. For once, Harry wished he wasn't going for Christmas at the Weasley's because he knew that the entire time, all he would be doing was anticipating what Draco had in store for him when he came back.

Then, he uttered the password and entered the Common Room, putting a finger to the Fat Lady's mouth before he did so, as if to silently say: don't tell.


	9. Peeves

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 9- Peeves **

As Harry expected, Christmas passed without much thought of anything but Draco. Soon enough, he was back at Hogwarts and couldn't wait to see the blonde again.

But, as soon as they reached the Fat Lady, Hermione came running over to them with a note for Harry. It was from Dumbledore, meaning they had another meeting; Draco would have to wait.

Harry sighed as Hermione handed it to him, and she looked up at him expectantly.

"Great!" Harry said, covering up his sigh, "Thanks Hermione, I can't wait to see what Dumbledore is going to teach me."

Then, he scrambled through the portrait hole before she had time to question him.

Soon enough, Harry was scrambling back out of the portrait hole in order to get to Dumbledore's office. When inside, Harry forced himself to concentrate on what Dumbledore was saying. He needed to hear this, he kept reminding himself. He had to defeat Voldemort and he was not going to be able to if he didn't listen to the Head Master.

But by the end of the 'lesson', Harry was almost regretting that he had paid attention. Not only was his mind throbbing with new questions from what he had learned, but Dumbledore had set Harry a task. Harry had to retrieve a memory from Slughorn. He had to retrieve a memory in which Slughorn was hiding and had been hiding for a long time.

As Harry headed off to bed, this last thought was still pounding in his head. He had to collect a bloody memory, and he was already doing enough with homework and Quidditch and this just gave him less and less time to be with Draco.

As he awoke the next morning, Harry headed eagerly down to breakfast, anticipating the first time he would see Draco since he got back yesterday. However, he did not see Draco until that evening and his first glace of him was when the Snake entered the Great Hall for dinner looking disheveled, running his hand continuously through his blonde hair. But, when he caught Harry's eye, his distressed expression became slightly happier, and he motioned swiftly to the door of the Great Hall. Without even sitting down to eat, Harry headed back the way he came.

"Hi," Draco whispered once they were outside the Great Hall.

"Hi," Harry whispered back. Despite himself, he felt a little bit shy.

"I've got something for you, Potter," Draco smirked.

"I know," Harry replied, a smile lighting up his face. Carefully, Draco took Harry's hand and led him up a few flights until they reached the fourth floor corridor which was completely deserted. They walked down the hall a little bit, turning the corner so that they were not in sight of the stairs, and then, almost immediately, Harry found himself being shoved against the wall.

Draco was pushing Harry there, holding him to the wall's flat surface, his pale lips very near the Lion's ear.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," Draco whispered, and then he let his lips slide down to Harry's neck.

Draco sucked ferociously at Harry's smooth skin, and Harry could practically see the mark that he knew would be left by the love bite. Fervently, Harry began to undo Draco's shirt, and as Draco lifted his mouth from the boy's neck in order to do the same, Harry smashed his lips to Draco's. Within seconds, they were both on the floor, Draco's tongue being shoved down Harry's throat and Harry responding with such enthusiasm that in no time both boys were groaning in lust and pleasure. Harry felt Draco unbuttoning his jeans and his stomach leapt.

_This is happening! This is really happening! _Harry thought, moving his own hands so that Draco's trousers soon slid off his body.

They were kissing each other with such ferocity that they were like animals. Harry found himself pinned to the ground by Draco's light, but strong body. Harry bit down on Draco's lip, and Draco returned the favor by moving his lips down to lick Harry's bare chest. Harry's hands tangled themselves in the blonde's soft hair. And suddenly, Harry felt Draco's soft hands reach down his briefs, when a cackle made both boys abruptly look up.

They had been so enthralled in their own love, that they hadn't noticed the Poltergeist slyly watching their every move.

"Ohhh! Potty and Malfey, naughty little boys! Snogging in the corridors, making lots of noise!"  
Peeves crowed.

"Peeves! Shut up!" Harry said loudly.

"Ohhh, Potty wee Potter doesn't want his secrets shared…" Peeves paused for a moment, but then, he cried at the top of his voice, "STUDENTS KISSING IN THE CORRIDORS! STUDENTS SNOGGING IN THE CORRIDORS!"

For a brief moment, Harry and Draco stared at each other in horror, and then, rapidly began to pull on their pants. Not bothering to grab their shirts, they sprinted away from Peeves. Even once they reached the dungeons they could still hear Peeves' shouting. "SLYTHERINS SNOGGING THE GRYFFINDORS! CHAOS HAS BROKEN OUT AT HOGWARTS! STUDENTS SNOGGING IN THE CORRIDORS! WHEEEEEEEE!"

Only once Draco had ushered Harry into the Slytherin Common Room (which was deserted as everyone was still at dinner) did Peeves' screams die out.

"So – this is – what my – Common Room – looks like," Draco said, attempting to catch his breath.

Harry was about to say, 'I know', but stopped himself. Draco didn't know he had been here before, disguised as Draco's own cronies.

For a moment, Draco and Harry stared at each other, Harry reaching back to scratch the back of his neck. Draco smirked sexily, and Harry thought that they would begin the snogging again, and maybe this time make it the whole way, like they were supposed to have done. But then, Draco's smirk faded and another look, one Harry couldn't place, took over his face. But in a moment, that look was gone.

Draco gestured towards the door, "You better leave, Potter," he whispered, as if he didn't really want to say it. "Before people run down here and ask me if what Peeves is saying is true."

Harry literally felt his expression slip down into a look of disappointment. Draco, noticing the look took a step closer to him. "Another night, my love," he whispered, and he pulled Harry into a last kiss for the night. Harry savored the slightly sweet taste of Draco's lips, and pressed his body as close as he could get it to the blonde's. Only too soon, had the kiss ended and Harry was heading up to the Gryffindor Tower once more.

"Ohh! It's Potty wee Potter, one of the naughty little boys, who was snogging Mr. Malfeyy and making lots of noise! Hehehehehehehehehe!" a sudden cackling voice said, almost as soon as he had reached the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry turned to see the Poltergeist floating behind him, a wide grin spreading across his entire face.

"Shut up, Peeves," Harry muttered moodily. "Abstinence," he added to the Fat Lady who swung forwards to admit him.

"Ohh! Potty doesn't want Peevesy to tell his little snogging secret! It's Potty and Malfey the naughty little boys, snogging in the corridors making lots of noi –"

But Peeves was cut off as Harry slammed the Portrait shut, leaving him alone in an empty and disappointed silence.


	10. Birthday Surprises

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry  
**

**Chapter 10 – Birthday Surprises **

The next morning Harry awoke to find himself in the same disappointed silence in which he had fallen asleep in. No one was awake yet, and he silently cursed himself for getting up so early, but he supposed the reason for his early waking was because he had gone to bed before anyone had even returned from dinner.

He got dressed, but didn't hurry to get down to breakfast this morning. He was starting to think that maybe Draco didn't _want _to go all the way with Harry and that the night previous he had made a fool of himself. Once Ron was awake, he headed down with him, talking about the new task Dumbledore had set him; getting the memory out of Slughorn.

When they reached the Great Hall, Harry looked around quickly to see if Draco was there, a habit he had gotten himself into, but when he couldn't find him, he sat down next to Hermione and began to tell her the same thing he had told Ron.

Ron and Hermione were having their own relationship troubles, however; they were still refusing to speak to each other.

Potions class was the first time that day in which Harry saw Draco. Harry was starting to get used to the sickly look that Draco had been supporting ever since he received this task from the Dark Lord. However, Draco did not linger after class to speak with Harry, nor did he catch Harry's eye during the class. But Harry didn't mind too much, because he thought that maybe Draco as just as embarrassed as he was of last night… or maybe Draco had even gotten a good start on his plan to kill Dumbledore and was feeling ashamed.

Soon enough, February was upon them, along with their first Apparition lesson. Harry headed down with Hermione, something he had been doing a lot in the past few weeks. He hadn't properly spoken to Draco in a while, but he had been busy, and he supposed that Draco had as well.

A frail man stood in front of them and began to explain the basics of Apparition when he was cut off by a sharp bark from Professor McGonagall, "Malfoy! Pay attention!"

This directed not only Harry's gaze, but also the gaze of everyone else in the Hall towards the pale boy who was now flushing a dull pink. He had been in a heated argument with Crabbe, but now stared fixedly at the small Apparition Professor.

Once the directions were given, Harry slipped away from Hermione and worked his way towards Draco, who had now started up his argument again.

"I told you, Crabbe, I don't know how much longer until it will be ready!" Harry heard Malfoy whisper angrily, oblivious to the fact that Harry was standing right behind him.

With a sudden swoop in his stomach, Harry remembered that before Christmas he had asked Draco what his plan was… and then they had been interrupted. Harry suddenly realized that he had no idea what the plan was… he knew nothing at all. And Harry felt his stomach sink even further as he realized that the plan could be _dangerous. _Draco had already nearly killed one Hogwarts student… what if the plan finished off another? Or what if the plan ended up killing Draco himself?

Harry was shot back to reality as he heard Draco yell at Crabbe and Goyle, "Look! I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing alright? Just help me out and keep a lookout!"

"I'd tell my friends what I was up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me," Harry found himself saying, quietly so that only Draco could hear.

Draco spun around a look of horror on his face. He reached for his wand and was about to say something when 'QUIET!' was yelled across the Hall. Draco silently turned back to face the front.

The man at the front was now telling them all to think about the three D's, whatever they were. All Harry could think about was Draco, Draco, Draco.

After the lesson was over, Harry's mind frame did not change. As Ron tried to talk to him about how he did, Harry merely nodded, his mind elsewhere. He was frantically scanning the crowds for Draco. When he couldn't find him, he decided to retreat back and look for him on the Marauder's map. Unluckily, this meant Ron watching his every move.

"Draco is using Crabbe and Goyle as Lookouts," Harry said once they were up in their dormitory and Harry had taken out the map.

"Harry?" Ron asked.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good… or Draco is anyway," Harry said, pointing his wand at the map.

"Harry?" Ron said again.

"Help me find Draco, will you Ron?"

"Harry?"

"What?" Harry finally asked, annoyed, looking up from the map to Ron's confused expression.

"You just called Malfoy 'Draco'… three times in a row," Ron answered.

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it. "Uhm… err, I uhm…"

But Harry was saved from having to explain as Ron pointed to the Slytherin Common Room on the map. "There he is!" he exclaimed, "With Zabini and Parkinson and Crabbe and Goyle…"

Harry was disappointed not to find Draco outside some secret hiding place, but he decided to keep an eye on the boy through the map over the next few weeks. Harry wondered why he didn't just _ask_ Draco what was going on, for they were back on their regular snogging schedule, but Harry supposed he didn't want to ruin anything again. Still, he felt a little bad about stalking Draco, but that didn't stop him from watching out for the boy's every move.

Sometimes he would find that Draco had disappeared off the map entirely and Harry wondered if he was leaving school. But then, Harry reminded himself that if Draco was leaving school, he would probably know about it because Draco didn't conceal _that_ much from Harry. And it would be extremely hard to leave the school with all these new security measures.

With Ron's birthday round the corner, Harry wondered if he should try leaving the school. Draco had been such a distraction that Harry had barely had time to get Ron a birthday gift. The morning of Ron's birthday, Harry rummaged through his trunk, past his bottle of lucky potion and Marauder's Map until he found what he was looking for. It was a pair of Keeper's gloves which Harry had obtained from an admirer that knew he played Quidditch but had gotten his position wrong. Harry threw them to Ron and said, "Sorry I didn't wrap them…" But Ron didn't mind at all.

"They're great, Harry!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah," Harry muttered, not really paying attention as he climbed back into bed with the Marauder's Map.

After whispering the incantation, he scanned it for Draco. "I don't think he's in bed," Harry said quietly, still scanning. Harry checked everywhere, including the bathrooms and found himself giggling uncharacteristically as he did so.

"Mischief Managed," he sighed, even though it hadn't been. Maybe it was time to bring up the subject again and ask Draco what this plan was.

Meanwhile, Ron was busy shoving chocolates into his mouth.

"Want one?" he asked and Harry shook his head.

After making a final decision that he would ask Draco what the plan was, Harry stood up.

"Ron, breakfast?" he asked. But Ron was staring at the wall.

"I'll come but I'm not hungry," Ron replied dreamily.

"But you've just eaten a whole load of candy?" Harry said questioningly.

"You wouldn't understand…" Ron replied.

"Fair enough," Harry said. He really wasn't in the mood for guessing games with Ron. He had a lot to do today, Quidditch, homework, Apparition, and he wanted to speak to Draco. Ron was wasting his time.

"Harry I can't take it anymore!" Ron suddenly exclaimed.

Harry was taken aback about this statement and stared at Ron, his annoyance turning to concern. Ron looked pale, even ill…

"I'm in love with her!" he suddenly burst out.

Harry's mood shifted back to annoyance.

"Alright, great, you're in love with her," Harry retorted, "Now come on!"

"I don't think she knows I exist."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Of course she knows you exists, you have been snogging all week, haven't you?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Who are _you_ talking about?"

"Why Romilda Vane, of course! I love her…" Ron replied with a dreamy expression on his face.

"Right, well, this is a great joke, but I'm going to leave now," Harry said, turning his back.

SMASH. The box of chocolates Ron had been holding hit Harry straight across the face.

"What the hell was that for?" Harry rounded on Ron, staring in fury. What was the bloody Weasel playing at? Harry stopped himself mid-thought… Draco was starting to rub off on him.

"You said it was a joke! It's not a joke! She's beautiful and I'm in love with her!" Ron yelled.

"Alright, alright!" Harry said back, not knowing what was going on.

Then it hit him; _love potion. _Ron was eating the chocolates that he had been given by Romilda Vane. As he tried to explain this, Ron's eyes lit up.

"You know her? Can you introduce me?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry said, taking Ron's arm and dragging him off towards Slughorn's office.

* * *

"What just happened," Ron said after a few moments. He had been given an antidote by Professor Slughorn and they were now sitting in his office.

"Love potion, m'boy!" Slughorn replied.

"Oh…" Ron looked dazed. He didn't really comprehend what was happening, only that he was being given something that looked like mead to drink from Slughorn. And then, he was gasping in pain, frothing from the mouth and thrashing around on the floor.

"Professor, what's going on?" Harry screamed. He then rushed to a nearby cupboard and rummaged through it until he found a bezoar. He shoved the stone-like object down Ron's throat. In a few moments, Ron was still.

Harry stood for a moment, Slughorn silent at his side.

"Professor," Harry said, his voice shaking, "where did you get that bottle?"

"Madame Rosemerta!" he replied, "I had intended it as a gift, for Dumbledore!"

"For Dumbledore?" Harry repeated, feeling his stomach sink, his voice still shaking and feeling as if his worst fears had been confirmed.

"Please take Ron to the hospital wing," Harry said bluntly, regaining control of his voice, "there is something I need to do."

And then, he left Slughorn's office, angry tears stinging in his eyes. Draco had done this. He didn't need any proof. The bottle was meant for Dumbledore, the man Draco was trying to assassinate. And Draco had nearly killed Ron. His best friend. Draco had nearly killed his best friend.

These thoughts swam around in Harry's brain, jabbing at it like hot pokers. And then, as he turned the corner to get into his dormitory, he found he had no need to retrieve the object he was going to get. He had been going to get the Marauder's Map so he could look for Draco, but, the blonde was standing right there, and as Harry approached him, anger etched into his features, the blonde stood still, a look of bewilderment plastering his sickly face.


	11. Bloody Death Eater

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 11 – Bloody Death Eater**

"Look, Malfoy! I'm tired of this! I'm tired off all this on-off stuff! How are we supposed to have a bloody relationship when you're a bloody Death Eater and trying to kill off the bloody Head Master? I didn't care for a while because I thought you were better than that! I thought you were bloody smart enough to not pull other people into your bloody plan! But you know what just happened, Malfoy? Well do you!" Harry bellowed, not bothering to think about what he was saying and letting the words rush out of his mouth.

Draco stood still, his eyes wide and his mouth open slightly as if he was going to say something. He closed and shook his head slowly.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED MY BLOODY BEST FRIEND RON WITH YOUR BLOODY POISONED MEAD!"

Now Draco's mouth fell open and he said softly, "So it didn't get to Dumbledore?"

"NO IT BLOODY DIDN'T! IT BLOODY NEARLY KILLED RON, PROFESSOR SLUGHORN AND MY BLOODY SELF!" Harry yelled back.

Draco's head shot up and he looked at Harry, his grey eyes still wide, an expression Harry couldn't place written across his face.

"AND I HATE THIS! I HATE ALL OF THIS! THE FACT THAT EVERY BLOODY WEEK WE ARE FIGHTING AND SNOGGING AND HOW EVERYTHING IS BLOODY ON AND OFF WITH YOU! AND I HATE THE BLOODY FACT THAT I'M BLOODY IN LOVE WITH YOU! I HATE YOU MALFOY! HOW THE BLOODY HELL DO I LOVE YOU AS WELL?"

Harry's voice had risen to such a degree that every portrait in the hall was staring at them. Draco opened his mouth again to say something, but then, still silent, he slipped to the ground, hugged his knees into his body and began to sob.

"Draco?" Harry asked quietly, all his anger leaving him.

Draco was sitting with his back against the wall, great sobs erupting from his body. Harry could see now how skinny Draco was, how underfed and sleep deprived he looked and only now did he seem to comprehend the ill look Draco had been supporting.

And then Harry remembered something else. The last time Draco and he had been in a fight, Harry had promised himself he would not let anything, _anything_ get in the way of their relationship.

"Draco?" Harry said again, moving over to where the boy was hunched, tears falling heavily down his face, gasping sobs erupting from his frail body.

"Draco, I'm sorry," Harry whispered. "I'm sorry. It's alright. You are going to be alright, I'm here."

Through rattling breaths, Draco managed to say, "I'm s – s – s – sorry, Harry. I – I – c – can't d – do this! I did – d – dn't mean to h – hurt you and W – Weasley. I'm re – really s – so angry with my – myself!"

"No Draco, I'm sorry. I'm not going to let anything get in the way of us," Harry replied forcefully, hugging the blonde tightly to him.

For a few moments, nothing but Draco's echoing sobs filled the silent corridor. Then, Harry lifted Draco's chin from where it was resting on his knees, and adjusted his head so that it was facing his own.

"Draco," Harry whispered, "I love you."

Two more tears ran down Draco's cheek and his grey eyes met the green ones.

"Do you really mean it?" he sniffled. Harry had never seen this side of Draco. The broken, fragile side. He was so used to the cruel and untrusting form of the boy that he was put slightly off guard.

"Yes I mean it," Harry whispered back, and he did. He loved Draco. He loved the cruel Draco, the romantic Draco, the broken Draco. He loved to hate Draco and he loved Draco enough to give up _anything _for him.

"I love you too," Draco whispered back.

And then, Harry brought his lips to the blonde's, like he had done so many times before.

He felt a rush of happiness break through his body as he kissed Draco. It was as if nothing mattered anymore, but the two of them. Harry could feel Draco's tear-stained cheek pressing against his own and was reminded of a kiss he had experienced the year previously; his kiss with Cho.

Although in no other way were the kisses relatable. Harry had thought that the kiss with Cho had been perfection, wonderful, love even. He now realized how wrong he had been. The thought of ever having thought Cho's kiss was as good as the one's he shared with Draco was almost laughable.

Harry broke his lips away from the soft, pale ones belonging to Draco. He then stood up, and Draco followed suit.

"Draco," Harry said softly, "can you please tell me what this plan is? Please?" Harry pleaded.

Draco opened his mouth and then thought better of it. Slowly, he shook his head. Harry felt his stomach sink a little, but he ignored the feeling.

"Fair enough," Harry whispered. "Just… be careful…" Harry felt foolish saying so. Draco smirked at this comment, looking back to normal. It was almost impossible to see that he had been crying just moments before.

"Well, Potter, I think we better get back to our dormitories before anyone starts wondering where we've gone off to," he drawled.

Harry practically glowed when Draco said this, Draco was sounding like his usual haughty self, no longer the broken teenager Harry had seen moments before.

"Yes, I'm going to go see Ron in the Hospital Wing," Harry said.

Draco looked a little bit guilty, but then he pulled Harry in for one more kiss, leaving Harry soaring as he headed off to see how Ron was doing.

The rest of the day passed by almost uneventfully, except for that night. Harry had been thinking a lot about Draco and not knowing his plan and how he could hurt someone else, or himself, again. Eventually, this lead to Harry calling upon Kreature, a House-Elf which was now bound to serve him. Dobby had come along as well and Harry thought he could use both of them.

"Alright Kreature, Dobby," he said, nodding at each of them, "I want you to trail Draco Malfoy, got it?"

Kreature looked outraged and Dobby was glowing with pride. After an explanation to Kreature that he wasn't allowed to tell Draco what he was doing, and with a reminder to Dobby that he didn't need to hurt himself if he did anything wrong, both Elves were off.

Harry felt slightly guilty about what he had just done, but ever since Draco and his encounter earlier, he had been curious to what the plan Draco was coming up with was… not to mention he wanted Draco to be safe. Was it really so bad to have House-Elves trailing the one he loved just to make sure he was safe? _Well,_ Harry thought, it kind of was… but…

Harry sighed, he knew he was going to do it anyway. And with that last thought, he headed up to bed. It had been an eventful day and he needed some rest.


	12. Nightmare

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 12- Nightmare**

Ron left the Hospital Wing on Monday morning with the great result of him and Hermione being friends again. As the three of them walked away from the Hospital Wing together, Luna came hurrying forwards to give Harry another note from Dumbledore. Harry thanked Luna and took it, actually looking forward to the meeting they would be having that night.

Harry was treasuring every single moment he had with Draco, and every moment with Dumbledore…but not in the same way, of course. Harry spent his moments with Draco snogging the Snake and trying not to think about what would happen if he didn't succeed in killing Dumbledore. He spent his moments with Dumbledore absorbing all the information about how to defeat You-Know-Who and trying to bond with the old man as if he were Harry's father.

As Harry entered Dumbledore's office that night, he was annoyed to find that Dumbledore was not its only occupant. One of Harry's least favorite teachers was there; Professor Trelawney. But she was soon ushered away as Harry and Dumbledore's session began.

Harry learned more about Tom Riddle's past, and dove into a memory about a lady, a cup and a House-Elf. But even after a short discussion with Dumbledore, Harry was confused as to what it all meant. Dumbledore however, refused to explain until Harry received the memory from Slughorn.

As Harry left the Headmaster's office that night, all he could think about was retrieving that memory. He had been spending lots of time which he could be trying to gain the memory with Draco instead… maybe he needed to try harder and see Draco less.

But as he thought this, even though it was only a thought, he felt his lips curve downwards. He might only have a limited number of days left with Draco and to stop spending time with him…

Harry was in a strange position. He had never known before someone close to him had died, and yet he had seen so many die… but this was different. He _knew _that someone was going to be dead by the end of the year. And yet, he didn't really feel it yet. It hadn't really hit him what that _meant. _He didn't comprehend that it was really going to happen… that it had to.

As Harry reached Gryffindor Tower, he went to bed without discussing any of what Dumbledore had said with Ron or Hermione. Instead, he drifted off into an uneasy sleep…

* * *

"Harry, I'm dead," came the eerie whispering voice of Draco Malfoy.

"How are you talking to me then?" Harry found himself asking.

"Oh, Dumbledore and I are both dead you see… both half dead. We can speak, but we cannot feel… it is as if our souls are gone, but our bodies still alive," Draco replied.

"Oh," Harry said, leaning in towards the pale boy who was even paler now. He kissed Draco, but Draco did not return the kiss. His lips were cold and motionless, as if Harry was kissing a corpse. Harry quickly brought his lips away from the blonde's.

"Kiss me back, Draco," Harry told the ghost-like figure.

"Oh I can't," Draco replied. "Because Harry, I cannot feel. I cannot love. I am half-dead, remember?"

"But Draco! I thought you said you loved me?" Harry replied, his voice rising in panic.

"But I am dead. We are dead," came Draco's voice. Suddenly, a figure that looked like Dumbledore, only paler and with large gaping sockets instead of eyes walked into the room.

"He's telling the truth Harry," Dumbledore said monotonously, his voice empty of emotion. "We are half dead. We cannot feel. Only speak and move."

"We are dead," Draco repeated.

"Gone from your life forever," Dumbledore added.

"We are dead, we are dead, we are dead," they began to chant. "WE ARE DEAD, WE ARE DEAD, WE ARE DEAD!" The chanting grew louder and louder, faster and faster. Harry covered his ears as the figures began to circle in on him, coming closer and closer…

* * *

Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up abruptly staring around. He was in his dormitory. There was no dead Dumbledore, or dead Draco around… everything was alright. It had just been a nightmare.

Harry checked his watch to see that it was five o' clock in the morning. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, he reluctantly climbed out of bed and got dressed. He did not leave the dormitory for breakfast however, waiting until someone else had gotten up. The dream had left him with a feeling so eerie that at the moment, he didn't think he could stand to go anywhere alone.

Once Ron was awake, Harry headed down to the Great Hall with him. As they were on the third floor corridor however, they found their path blocked by none other than Peeves.

"Hehehehe!" Peeves cackled when he saw them, "Ohh its Weaslebee and look who he's with! It's Potty wee Potter… Potty and Malfey naughty little boys, snogging in the corridors, making lots of noise!"

To Harry's horror and Ron's confusion, Peeves had started to sing the clever little song he had created when he had caught Harry and Draco snogging that night not so long ago. Peeves was now floating above them, doing little turns in the air as he repeated the song over and over again. Harry tried to drag Ron away, but Ron's feet seemed glued to the ground; he was trying to figure out what Peeve's was saying.

"Peeves?" Ron finally asked as Peeves replied with another cackle. "Harry didn't snog Draco and I don't think he ever will?" Ron said questioningly and then directed a confused gaze at Harry.

"Ohh, Potty didn't even tell his best friend all the naughty thinks he's been getting up to with that Slytherin… Wheeeeee!" Peeves suddenly added as he floated down the banister and away from them, still singing and cackling merrily.

"You didn't snog Malfoy, right Harry?" Ron added uncertainly as Peeves zoomed away.

"No… no, of course not!" Harry replied, but he couldn't help smiling a little. Ron heaved a tremendous sigh.

"I wonder what Peeves is on about then…"

"Yeah," Harry said, "Me too."

Then, together, the entered the Great Hall and sat down to begin breakfast.


	13. House Elves and Ghosts

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 13- House Elves and Ghosts **

For the next few days, Harry forced himself to concentrate less on Draco and more on trying to find a way to get Slughorn to give him the memory he desperately needed in order to defeat Voldemort. He spent his time flipping through the pages of his potions book, looking for helpful hints from the Half-Blood Prince. Of course, this wasn't really helping, but he did find some more homemade spells, one he was particularly keen to try called _Sectumsempra _which was supposedly "for enemies".

"Harry, that stupid book isn't going to help you!" Hermione finally burst out after Harry had scanned the book for about the third time, "The only way to force someone to do something is the Imperius Curse and that's illegal!"

"I know, Hermione!" Harry shouted back, "I just don't have any ideas, alight?"

Harry finally closed the book and yawned, which turned into a startled yelp as a loud CRACK punctured the drowsy silence in the room.

"Kreature!" Harry yelled in surprise, looking down at the elf who was now bowing lowly.

"Master has ordered Kreature to give regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing so that is what Kreature is here to – "

But Kreature was cut off as another yelp, this time issuing from Hermione and loud crack surrounded the room once more.

"Dobby has been helping too!" Dobby who had just appeared in the room said before anyone could even react to his appearance.

"Harry what is going on?" Hermione suddenly interrupted, her face radiating the pure meaning of shock.

Harry looked at Hermione awkwardly. "Errm… they've been trailing Dra – err – Malfoy for me," Harry said, catching himself before the word 'Draco' tumbled out of his mouth.

"Night and day," Kreature grumbled.

"Dobby has not slept for a week!" Dobby added enthusiastically.

"Dobby you can sleep," Harry said quickly, ignoring Hermione's indignant look. "Did you find anything?" he added hopefully.

"Master Malfoy is a graceful pureblood wizard and moves with such a grace as – " Kreature began.

"Yes, yes, I know that. Malfoy's gorgeous; have you found anything else out?" Harry cut in quickly.

Ron and Hermione both stared at Harry.

"You know that Malfoy is a graceful and beautiful wizard – " Ron began to ask, but Dobby cut across him. "Mr. Malfoy is a bad boy! He has been sneaking off to the Room of Requirement!"

"Of course!" Harry cried. "Thank you Dobby!"

"The Room is probably Unplottable…" Hermione whispered, "which is why he appears to be leaving the map?" she looked up at Harry.

"That must be it! Thanks Dobby, Kreature. You can sleep now," Harry said and both the Elves disappeared with another loud CRACK.

Suddenly, everything seemed to fit together. Draco had been using Crabbe and Goyle, disguised with Polyjuice Potion as his guards, which was why Harry kept seeing students he didn't recognize walking along the Seventh Floor Corridor, the girl who dropped those brass scales and the one who dropped the frogspawn. They were actually Crabbe and Goyle guarding the Room of Requirement where Draco was making his plan! Harry was slightly relieved; Draco did seem to be taking caution… so hopefully everything was safe.

"Blimey," said Ron, "No wonder Crabbe and Goyle look so put out these days… I wonder why they don't just tell Malfoy to stuff it so they can stop turning into girls."

"Because he would have shown them his Dark Mark!" Harry said excitedly.

"Harry, we don't know if he _has _a Dark Mark," said Hermione skeptically.

"Yes we do!" Harry shouted, "I know he's got one because –" Harry cut himself off and swallowed hard. In his excitement he had almost gotten Draco in deep trouble… not to mention he had almost admitted his secret relationship with the boy. "Well, we'll see," Harry finished lamely.

"Alright," said Hermione, packing away her homework and getting up to go to bed. "But Harry, I think you should stop spending so much time with Malfoy," she said quietly, as Harry's head shot up. Did she know? "I mean trailing him and thinking about him being a Death Eater," Hermione clarified, not sure why there was an uncomfortable look on Harry's face. Harry sighed quietly and Hermione continued, "I mean, you need to get that memory. It's the most important thing." And then she left the room and went up to bed.

That night he went to bed, still thinking of Draco, who met him in his dreams once again. But this time, it wasn't as oddly horrifying as before. Instead the dreams were merely flashes of scenes and of people, mostly Draco who occasionally shifted into Slughorn and then into Snape…

The next day he did not let Draco leave his thoughts either. For over an hour, he paced outside the Room of Requirement, trying to find the place where Draco went when conjuring this plan of his. Harry was still determined to find out what Draco was doing, even if the blonde refused to tell Harry himself.

A while later Ron and Harry headed into the boys bathroom together (in order to get away from Lavender who Ron was now trying to avoid rather than sucking face with her).

"Myrtle!" Ron screeched as they entered and Harry saw that indeed, Moaning Myrtle had just floated moodily out of a toilet. "This is the _boy's _bathroom!"

"Yes. Well. I was expecting someone. He said he'd come back and talk to me… but then again, so did you and I haven't seen you two for months and months," Myrtle sighed.

"I thought you haunted the girl's toilets?" Harry questioned.

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean I can't visit other places. I saw you in the bath once, didn't I?"

This comment was followed by a sharp glance and raising of eyebrows from Ron. Harry nodded slowly and Myrtle droned on.

"He said he'd come back though… we had lots in common… he was sensitive, people bullied him, he feels like he hasn't got anyone to talk to and he'd not afraid to show his feelings and cry," she said with a glance at the door, as if expecting to see the mysterious boy standing there.

"What boy?" Harry asked, thinking of the possibilities.

"It's a secret," Myrtle said haughtily. Harry opened his mouth to bribe her to tell him but with one cheeky sentence from Ron, Myrtle had wailed and dived back into the toilet she'd appeared from, leaving Harry and Ron free to leave.

But as Ron headed off for his Apparition test with Hermione, Harry was left with free time to ponder… and attempt to break into the Room of Requirement. As he spent his time waiting for his two best friends to return, the crying-boy Myrtle had mentioned was long forgotten as he paced back and forth in front of where he knew the Room of Requirement must be, trying to break in. Although he was unsuccessful still by the time Ron and Hermione had returned, he vowed not to give up. If only he didn't have to retrieve this blasted memory…


	14. Potions Class

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 14- Potions Class**

As summer approached, Harry and Draco were progressively spending less and less time together. They weren't doing it on purpose; each was just becoming more and more wrapped up in their own plans. But that didn't mean they weren't thinking of each other. In fact, Harry couldn't spend a minute without Draco on his mind.

"Give it a rest Harry!" Hermione finally bombarded him one day. "Stop thinking of Malfoy and get a work on getting this memory from Slughorn."

Harry was about to interject and say that he_ was _trying to retrieve the memory, but someone had just walked up to where he, Ron and Hermione were eating lunch. It was a small girl, who passed Harry a note.

Harry felt his stomach sink slightly. Dumbledore had said they wouldn't be having any more meetings until he got the memory… maybe he was spending too much time on Operation-Find-Out-What-Draco's-Doing and should spend more time on Operation-Get-The-Bloody-Memory.

But, as he opened the letter, he found it not to be from Dumbledore, but from _Hagrid. _Splotchy and messy handwriting informed all three of them that Aragog, Hagrid's beast of a spider had died. And he wanted them to attend their funeral.

However, instead of lightening his spirits, Harry felt them sink further. It was just another task to do when he could be spending more time figuring out what Draco was doing, or what Slughorn's memory was.

A quick discussion erupted from this new found task, and Harry, Ron and Hermione all agreed in the end that none of them would be attending, no matter how much it hurt Hagrid; they couldn't sneak out of the castle at night to bury a dead spider.

However, the discussion also lead to something else. For once, Harry had a plan for how to get the memory from Slughorn; Liquid Luck.

Harry did not admit to Ron and Hermione that he had thought of this, for he had… but he was thinking of saving the Liquid Luck to help him get lucky in… err… _other_ situations. Although most of these situations were just vast fantasies with Draco, he realized that there was no way he was going to be able to get around not using the potion after Ron had suggested it.

"I've kind of been saving it for… other things," Harry said weakly, some of the rather more _interesting_ fantasies now playing before his mind's eye.

"What could be more important than that memory, Harry?" Hermione gasped exasperatedly.

"You're right," said Harry giving up, but he wasn't too bummed… after all, that letter Draco had written to him in detention a month or two back had suggested Harry didn't need lucky potion in order to get lucky… if you catch my drift.

"Harry, you've got to get that memory!" Hermione badgered. "It's all about stopping Voldemort and –"

"I know, I know!" Harry cut across her.

Just then the bell rang and Ron and Hermione glanced nervously at Harry. Instead of going to potions class, they would be going to their official and final Apparition tests… along with most of the 6th years.

Because of this, Harry was not surprised that there were only three students in Potions Class; him, Ernie and Draco Malfoy.

Although Harry could take any desk he wanted, he happily sat down next to Draco, with a suspicious look from Ernie. But seeing as Ernie was across the room and couldn't hear what Harry was about to say, he didn't mind.

"I've missed you," Harry whispered. A small smirk flickered across Draco's face, but Harry noticed once again that the boy had a greyish tinge to his skin and that he was skinnier and more tired looking than usual.

"Me too, Potter," he drawled, "But I've been… busy," he sighed. Harry let a smile flicker across his own face as Slughorn gave the three who were too young to have their Apparition tests a task. He said surprise him, make whatever potion they wished.

"I've been busy too," Harry whispered back as Draco began flicking unceremoniously through his potions book. Draco looked up and his eyes narrowed.

"I'll tell you my plan if you tell me yours," Harry whispered, bargaining with Draco in a sly attempt of revealing what was going on with Draco's knowing rather than behind his back.

Draco smirked again, "What plan?" he said.

"The one Dumbledore and I are going to use to destroy your Dark Lord," Harry replied, taking Draco's hand under the table and slowly tracing the Dark Mark with his finger.

Draco's eyes widened and an almost gleeful look took over his face. Harry was defeating the Dark Lord? Maybe his plan didn't need to work after all. But that thought quickly left him. He wasn't going to put his family's life in danger. He _had _to do this.

Harry was now getting ingredients to create a Forgetfulness Potion as Draco had picked a boring Hiccupping Solution.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Draco whispered, his voice dripping with sorrow, "I can't."

"Alright," Harry said, letting go of Draco's hand, which fell limply to Draco's side.

For a few moments, they worked in silence, before the conversation started up once again.

"Harry do you want to meet up tonight?" Draco asked suddenly.

"I… can't," Harry whispered back, silently cursing himself for promising Hermione that tonight would be the night he tried to get the memory from Slughorn.

"Oh," Draco scowled. "You plan in action tonight?"

"Actually, yes," Harry replied, placing the final ingredients into his potion.

Draco abandoned his own potion and stared at Harry, his expression impossible to read. Harry turned towards him and stared as well, trying to decipher what he was thinking. And then, Draco knocked over his caldron as he flung himself at Harry, his hands shoving themselves in Harry's black and untidy hair as he brought their lips together. The clattering of potion brought both Ernie's and Slughorn's eyes to Harry and Draco, who were now kissing so intensely that Draco had wrapped his legs around Harry's waist and was being held in the air by Harry as they kissed.

A small scream erupting from Ernie was the only thing that stopped them. Slowly, Harry set Draco down, whose face flushed a dull pink, about seven shades lighter than the red glowing on Harry's own face.

Then, without hesitation, Harry grabbed a nearby bowl and sunk it in to his Forgetfulness Potion. He then bounded over to Slughorn, before the teacher had time to react, and shoved the bowl to his lips so that the potion slipped down his throat. He then did the same to Ernie, who seemed to be paralyzed to the spot. After that, he bounded back over to where Draco was, picked up Draco's caldron, poured some of his own potion into it and said, "Professor! We're done!"

Slughorn looked up at them, as if surprised that they were there. Ernie looked down at his potion, wondering when he had started brewing it. Harry knew his potion had been brewed to perfection with help from the Half-Blood Prince, and it had worked. Harry heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well done!" said Slughorn as he headed over. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, I am impressed! Decided to make the same potion I see?"

Draco nodded in sync with Harry and then Slughorn dismissed the class.

Draco and Harry walked out of Potions together, laughing and holding hands… Ernie had left the classroom before them; angry that he had been outshined by them both. And as Harry and Draco then parted ways, Harry headed up to the Common Room, feeling so lucky that he doubted he would even need to take Felix Felicis.

However, as night drew closer, he took the potion anyway, as instructed by Hermione (who had passed her Apparition test) and agreed downheartedly by Ron (who had not). And a mere few hours later, Harry was heading back up to the Gryffindor Tower once more, the memory he needed inside a flask which he clutched tightly in his hands. And yet, even retrieving the memory which he needed to get in order to defeat Voldemort felt like the second best thing that had happened today.


	15. Nightmares Revived

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 15 – Nightmares Revived**

As soon as Harry reached the Fat Lady, she would not let him into the tower due to a claim that the password had changed at midnight. This lead to a discussion about the Head Master, who had been away for a few days but had now returned.

"Dumbledore's back?" Harry asked.

"Why yes," said the Fat Lady. And before she could say anything else, Harry had sprinted off to go and find Dumbledore and give him the memory. He wanted to get this done with; finish the task… and then he could spend more time finding out what Draco's plan is, and he could spend more time with the blonde.

When he arrived at Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore was surprised and glad to see him. Once Harry explained that he had gotten the memory, Dumbledore was almost ecstatic as he took it from Harry and poured it into the Pensive.

As Harry leaned over into the Pensive, a younger Slughorn and small group of students materialized around him. Harry saw that one of the students was Lord Voldemort, only he was a young, handsome boy going by his original name; Tom Riddle.

After a few moments of chit chat, the other boys began to leave the room. Harry watching in anticipation as Tom and Slughorn were the only two people left.

Harry heard the familiar words leaving Tom's lips, "Sir, I wanted to ask you something," and then the following response, "Ask away, m'boy!" from Slughorn.

"I was wondering if you could tell me about… Horcruxes?" Tom asked. Harry waited for Slughorn's answer. Slughorn looked taken aback, but nervously he began to answer Tom's question.

"Horcruxes?" he asked and Tom nodded. "Very Dark Magic. Very Dark Magic indeed."

Harry felt an odd sensation in his stomach.

"A Horcrux, Tom, is an object which within, one has concealed their soul," Slughorn continued.

"But, sir, I don't fully understand it," Tom asked and Harry could sense his excitement.

"Well, Tom… to split one's soul… you would need to kill someone. And then that part of the soul can be hidden in an object… making the person who had hidden their soul, invincible in a sense, because even if they are killed… part of them lives. So they will not die."

Tom looked greedily at Slughorn, badgering onwards, "But what else is there? A spell, an enchantment?"

"Yes, there is a spell, but Tom, I do not know! Do not ask me… I am not a killer!" Slughorn shouted.

"Sorry sir…" Tom whispered. "I am just curious… could you create more than one Horcrux? Seven, perhaps?"

Slughorn looked taken aback, "Yes… but, Tom! To kill one person, to rip the soul apart once is an act of violence against nature in itself! To do it more than once is…" he trailed off, not finding any words to describe the revoltingness of it.

"Thank you, sir," Tom whispered and then he left the room.

Harry and Dumbledore left the memory and Harry was silent for a moment, staring around Dumbledore's office. His stomach had dropped deeply, and something was worrying him. The memory had made something occur to him. What if Draco was using Dark Magic in order to kill Dumbledore? What if Draco's plan was full of Dark Magic? Even similar to Tom's? Draco had already used a Cursed Necklace… and poison… but what if it was worse than that? What if it was magic as deeply violent and horrifying as these? As the Horcruxes?

"Harry?" Dumbledore said quietly, and Harry looked up.

"Sorry sir…" he whispered, "Just pondering."

After a long discussion, Harry headed back to the Gryffindor Tower thoroughly ready to go to sleep. As he entered (the Fat Lady had been lying about the password changing), he still couldn't rid of the sickly feeling in his stomach. A feeling that stuck with him until he finally drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

"Potter," came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

Harry looked around and felt a flicker of joy run through him as he saw that the Room of Requirement was standing before him; he had finally managed to see what Draco was doing in here! As he peered past Draco standing in the doorway, however, he saw that the room was dark and seemingly empty.

"Draco," he nodded in reply, and he let himself into the room. It was reasonably large and covered in black walls. Harry looked around, this time more carefully, until his eyes fell on what appeared to be an old man, huddled in the corner. An old man with a long white beard, piercing blue eyes and half-moon spectacles.

"Dumbledore!" Harry said suddenly, and he saw that it was indeed Dumbledore, sitting in a chair which his hands were tied to in the corner of the room. Had this been Draco's plan? To lure Dumbledore in here and then kill him? Was that all there was to it?

Harry continued to look at Dumbledore, and for a moment, he thought he saw the blue eyes turn into black, empty gaping sockets, but after he blinked, the twinkling eyes were there once more.

"There is nothing you can do, old man," Draco whispered, and Harry saw that Dumbledore did not reply; his head merely drooped downwards. Draco's voice sounded… different. It was the same drawling tone, and yet, there was something oddly eerie about it…

Harry suddenly realized what was going on. Draco was going to do it! He was going to kill Dumbledore…right now… in front of Harry. Harry looked at the blonde and wondered why he was doing this. He understood that Draco had to kill Dumbledore, but why did Harry have to be here?  
"Avada Kadavra!" Draco suddenly spat, pointing his wand at Dumbledore. A flash of green light filled the room… and as the green light filled Harry's eyes, he heard his mother screaming; the last words she would ever speak.

Then in a flash, the light was gone and Dumbledore's body slumped further in the chair. He was dead.

Draco smiled; a maniac smile mixed with his usual smirk. Harry did not do anything, but stood rooted to the spot.

Draco cackled evilly, a cold laugh that sounded nothing like his own. Then Harry saw him raise his wand again and whisper words Harry did not recognize.

The he smiled that maniac smile again and whispered to Harry, "Well Potter, I killed someone. Do you know what that means?"

Harry nodded, it mean Draco's soul was split; destroyed. But Draco cut in before Harry could speak the words aloud.

"It means I can make a Horcrux," he hissed, his voice sounding oddly snake-like. "A piece of my soul is now in you, Harry!" Draco screamed. "You are my Horcrux, Harry. A piece of me now lives within you!" Harry opened his mouth in horror, but he did not know what to say. Suddenly, Draco was laughing again, his voice becoming colder and higher until there in his place was not Draco at all, but Lord Voldemort. Behind him, Dumbledore stood up, his eyes the empty sockets again and Draco appeared once more, his body cold and pale as a corpse's. They stood behind Voldemort, whose laughing never ceased and Draco and Dumbledore began to chant familiar words which Harry had heard before, "We are dead, we are dead, we are dead." The chanting and laughing began to grow louder and louder and louder as the sound of his mother's screaming as she died joined in with the noise.

* * *

Suddenly, Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up so fast that his head smashed against the wall. He stared around the dark room, Voldemort's high laughing still echoing in his ears.


	16. Sectumsempera

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 16 – Sectumsempera**

For the next few days, the freakish nightmare remained livid in Harry's memory. He started unintentionally avoiding Draco for a while, but as May arrived, he began to realize that he had been avoiding the blonde and told himself sternly to snap out of it. It was just a nightmare, and he had had many of those before.

When this point came, he also began to feel happier and happier about having retrieved the memory from Slughorn. It meant that now not only did he have much more free time to spend with, or trying to find out what, Draco was doing, but also gave him more chances to see Dumbledore as Dumbledore had promised that if he found the location of another Horcrux, Harry would be coming along with him to retrieve and destroy it.

However, soon enough his time was being occupied once more, this time by a less pressing but still important matter; Quidditch. The Gryffindor team would be facing Ravenclaw soon and that would mean that they would have to practice very hard. If they wanted to win the Quidditch Cup this year, they needed to win to Ravenclaw by at least 300 points… something very difficult to achieve indeed.

Seeing as much of Harry's time was devoted to training the team he was now captain of, and the rest of his time used to figure out what Draco's plan was, he was not actually seeing the boy very often, with the exception of the small dot that represented him on the Marauders Map.

A few days before the match against Ravenclaw, Harry was looking at that map, scanning for Draco's name once more. At first he could not find the name and thought that once again, Draco was inside the Room of Requirement, but a closer glace told Harry otherwise. He had just spotted the Snake's name and it was inside the boys bathroom accompanied not by any of its usual cronies, but someone Harry had just seen in the same bathroom only a few weeks ago; Moaning Myrtle.

Slowly, Harry stowed the map and began to walk in the direction of that particular boy's toilets. When he reached it, he pressed his ear to the door, but, not hearing anything, he slowly opened it and let himself in.

Draco Malfoy was clutching the sink, his back to the door, his white-blond hair shining in the dim light. Myrtle was whispering softly to him.

"It's alright," she began, "tell me what's wrong… I can help you," she persuaded.

"No one can help me," Draco replied, his entire body shaking. "I can't do it… it's not working… and he says if I don't do it soon… he'll kill me." Harry's stomach lurched. He knew exactly what Draco was talking about. Harry thought about approaching the boy like he had done when they had fought. He thought about taking Draco in his arms, hugging him tightly and saying it would all be alright.

But, Harry saw that Draco was crying more fiercely than he had done that night. Tears were streaming down his face so heavily, it made his face appear to be slightly blurred. Harry also noted a strange desperateness in Draco's voice… a desperateness that he heard very slightly when Draco was about to through an insult at Harry or one of his friends. And Draco and Harry, although in love, still had some hate inside them for each other. If Draco saw Harry now, he might lash out… do anything in a rash decision. And that is exactly what happened. Draco looked up into the grimy mirror above him and saw Harry standing there.

Draco reached for his wand and Harry put his hands in the air. "Draco," Harry whispered, "Draco stop, I'm here to help," he said cautiously, but as soon as the words left his lips, he knew they were no use.

"No one can help me!" Draco replied, yelling and pointing his wand threateningly, tears still streaming down his pale face. Harry reached for his own wand, and the duel began. Harry would shoot a curse at Draco, who would dodge or block it and shoot one back.

"Stop it!" Myrtle was screaming, "STOP IT!" But neither boy cared for her words. The love they had for each other was now pouring out as hate, each boy wrapped up in the strange maniac of their moves.

Suddenly, a harsh and painful look took over Draco's face, as if it was literally hurting him to do so, he began to scream, "Cruci –"

But his spell was cut off as Harry yelled over him, naming the first spell that came to mind, the one from the Prince's book… the one for enemies.

"SECTUMSEMPERA!"

Blood began to spurt from Draco's fragile and pale skin, on his face, chest, legs, everywhere as the spell hit him. Harry watched in horror before moving over to where Draco now lay, on the ground of the bathroom, surrounded by his own blood which was still pouring out of him. Myrtle was screaming but at the moment, all the noise around Harry seemed dimmed as he reached for the pale blonde.

"Draco!" Harry shouted, but Draco was losing so much blood he could do nothing but stare up at Harry helplessly. "Draco! I'm sorry! I didn't know what it would do, I swear! I wouldn't have used it if I had known!"

Harry ripped off his shirt and began to place it over some of the more prominent wounds, trying to stop the heavy blood flow. Then he bent back over the boy. "I'm sorry, Draco! I'm sorry! I didn't know this would happen! I – I can't believe what I – I – I've done!"

Carefully, Harry bent down and kissed Draco's lips. He felt the metallic taste of blood seep into his mouth as he drew his lips away. "I'm sorry Draco," he whispered again, "I'm sorry! I love you…"

Harry was not aware that at that moment, Severus Snape had entered the room. He pushed Harry roughly aside and bent over Draco himself, now fixing the wounds. Harry watched, ashamed and scared of what he had done, silent tears now streaming down his own face.

Then, Snape supporting Draco, stood up and said, "You need the Hospital Wing." Draco was too weak to do anything but nod, and then Snape added, "Potter. Wait here for me."

As they reached the end of the bathroom, Harry cried out, "I'm sorry Draco! I am so sorry! I never meant for… for this…" But with the last ounce of effort he had in him, Draco turned and met Harry's apology with nothing but a cold, heart breaking glare.


	17. In the Hospital Wing

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 17 – In the Hospital Wing**

After Snape had returned, he asked for Harry to bring him all his school things. Without hesitation, Harry ran up and grabbed absolutely everything… besides his potion book. Even in his guilty and worried state, he realized bringing the Prince's book would just get him into deeper trouble and so he took Ron's instead.

Snape gave him a detention for every Saturday leading up to the end of term, but Harry felt he deserved it. He deserved all the detentions in the world, and more for what he had done to Draco. Although these detentions did mean that he would miss the final Quidditch match of the season, he didn't care. All he cared about was that Draco would be alright.

After Snape had let him go, Harry went straight to the Hospital Wing. He did not care what anyone would think. He was going to go there and apologize to Draco, beg for forgiveness and pray that he was alright. As he entered the Wing however, Madame Pomfrey told him that Draco was not fit for visitors and that he would be leaving tomorrow. This only gave Harry one option; to come at night.

Slowly, he crept through the corridors, Invisibility Cloak wrapped around him, Marauder's Map in his hands. Silently, he opened the door to the Hospital Wing and crept in. All the beds were empty besides Draco's where the blonde laid, eyes closed and bare chest slowly moving up and down. Harry saw that there were no scars on the boy's face, but the reason for the bare chest was that two, crisscrossing and very prominent scars stretched across his torso and were covered in a thick purple paste which must be a potion attempting to heal them.

As Harry crept closer, he put the Muffliato charm around him and Draco so that he would not wake the nurse with his voice. After lighting a candle which was on Draco's bedside table, he sat down on the side of Draco's bed, feeling tears brewing in his eyes. _What had he done? How had this happened? _

"Draco," he whispered, and the small sound was enough to revive Draco from his sleep. Draco looked up at Harry, a bit disoriented, and then his expression changed as his grey eyes shone with happiness to see Harry sitting on his bed. Then, as quickly as they had before, his expression shifted and his grey eyes glared coolly at Harry as he remembered why he was in the Hospital Wing in the first place. He did not say anything.

"Draco," Harry said, a pleading tone ringing through his voice, "I'm sorry."

Draco sat up silently, looking down at his chest and the purple covered scars. He then looked up at Harry again. He still did not say anything.

"Look," Harry whispered. "Once someone told me that scars can come in handy…" he said, recalling the memory of Dumbledore telling him he had a scar in the perfect shape of a map.

Draco did not speak.

"Draco," Harry whispered again. "Draco," he repeated more firmly. "I did not know what that spell would do. It was an experiment. I was angry that you chose to attack me rather than let me help you –"

And now Draco spoke. "No one can help me," he whispered.

"Maybe that is the truth. But I am still here for you, Draco."

"I'm sorry," Draco replied, "I'm sorry too."

"For what?" Harry sighed, "I'm the one at fault here."

"I tried to use the Cruciatus Curse on you," Draco said, his voice so quiet Harry could barely hear him.

"Do you forgive me?" Harry said, deciding not to concentrate on the point Draco had just brought up.

"Yes," Draco whispered. "Yes." And then, he wrapped his arms around Harry and brought his lips to the raven-haired boy's.

Harry responded by kissing Draco back so fiercely that in a few moments, Draco was lying back in the hospital bed, and Harry was on top of him, nibbling on his lower lip as the Snake slithered his tongue down the Lion's throat.

For a few moments, they stayed like that, snogging and whispering, until finally, Harry rolled over so that he was lying next to Draco. He wrapped his arms around the blonde and they cuddled close together, panting slightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again.

"Don't be," Draco whispered back, "If you hadn't nearly killed me, I wouldn't be in the Hospital Wing… and then we wouldn't have this opportunity."

Harry laughed a little and then turned his head so that Draco and he were so close their noses were almost touching. Harry tried to read the expression in the boy's eyes.

"Harry, I might be dead soon. I don't want to die a virgin," Draco whispered. Instead of replying, "You're a virgin?" because Harry had been almost sure that he wasn't, Harry replied by pressing his lips to Draco's once more.

* * *

The next day, Harry headed down to the Great Hall, exhausted but almost over-enthusiastically happy. He was greeted by Hermione who looked at him and said, "Harry? Do you know you have some sort of… err… purple stuff in your hair?"

"Oh, uh, nope… didn't know," Harry said as he lifted a hand to his hair to try and get it out. When he was unsuccessful, he said goodbye to a befuddled Hermione and headed up to take a shower.

His mood only got better when he discovered that even though he had detention with Snape and couldn't play Quidditch, his team had won with enough points to put them in first place for the Quidditch Cup. And the happiness didn't end there. Every time he saw Draco in the hallway, he was greeted by a wink or a smile, and even a kiss if no one else was around. This went on for a few days, until Harry was once again seeing less and less of Draco as he spent more and more time doing whatever he was doing in the Room of Requirement.

On one particular day, Harry was heading up to Dumbledore's office (who had sent him a note asking him to come there) when he heard a yelp. Rushing, he found Professor Trelawney outside of the Room of Requirement, on the floor with a bunch of sherry bottles scattered around her and muttering furiously. With some fast thinking, Harry asked, "Professor? Were you trying to get into the Room of Requirement?"

She looked up as though surprised to see him there and said, "Yes… but I didn't know students knew about –"

"Not all do… Professor, what happened?" Harry cut across.

"Well, I was trying to get in and I heard someone already in there," she replied.

"A boy?" Harry asked suddenly.

"I didn't see!" she answered.

"But did it _sound _like a boy?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Trelawney replied, "It sounded like a boy celebrating… before whoever it was shoved me out of the room!"

"Celebrating?" All at once, many emotions bubbled up inside Harry. Draco wasn't going to die! He had done it! But… that meant that Dumbledore would be gone from Harry's life forever… anger, happiness, joy and downheartedness filled Harry's body all at once.

"Goodbye Professor, I really must go," Harry muttered quietly, before he went on his way back up to find Dumbledore's office.

"Oh, I'll come along with you," she replied, "I need to speak to Dumbledore myself about what has just occurred."

As they walked next to each other, Trelawney began to talk about the night she had become teacher at Hogwarts. And Harry realized at once she was talking about the day, unknown to her, she had made a real prophecy. The one that altered the entire course of Harry's life. The one about "neither can live whilst the other survives".

"…and then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!" Harry stopped in his tracks.

"Snape?"

"Yes!" said Trelawney and she continued to ramble on, before she realized that Harry was no longer following her, but standing still, not speaking.

Emotion was crashing over him as he put the pieces together. Snape had overheard the prophecy. Snape had reported it to Voldemort. Snape and Wormtail together set Voldemort out to kill him… to kill his parents. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

Harry rushed past the Seer and sprinted into Dumbledore's office.

"I promised you could come," Dumbledore said quietly when Harry burst through the door. Harry opened his lips to scream, but found his words drown in his mouth.

"What?" he said instead, confused and disoriented.

"To find a Horcrux. To destroy it," Dumbledore replied. Harry slowly came back to reality.

"Yes!" he said, "Are – are we leaving now?"

Dumbledore nodded. Then he looked quizzically at Harry and said, "What is wrong?"

"Nothing," Harry muttered. Now the only thing occupying his mind was finding and destroying a Horcrux.

"Harry, you were never good at Occlumens –"

But that word triggered the eruption, "Snape!" Harry yelled. "YOU LET SNAPE TEACH HERE WHEN HE WAS THE DEATH EATER THAT LED VOLDEMORT TO KILLING MY PARENTS!"

Dumbledore sighed, "You've figured it out?" he said quietly.

"Yes!" Harry yelled in return, "HOW COULD YOU? He is planning something with Draco right now under your nose, he sold my parents to Voldemort himself, how can you trust him?" Harry said, the words jumbling as they shot out of his mouth.

"Harry, I have told you my views," said Dumbledore quietly.

"You want to leave the school tonight when Draco and Snape are going to –"

"What?" said Dumbledore evenly, "What is young Malfoy going to do exactly?"

Harry was about to shout, "Kill you!" but the image of the night in the Hospital Wing was now lit up in his mind. "Nothing… I don't know," he finally mumbled.

"Right," said Dumbledore. "Now, Harry. Are you going to come destroy a Horcrux with me?"

"Yes," Harry mumbled again.

"Good."

After a quick briefing, and promising to do whatever Dumbledore said, he ran down and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak, gave the rest of his lucky potion to his friends (to protect them from whatever Draco had in store) and then, they were off.

As Harry opened his eyes from an unpleasant Apparition, he found himself on a rock, in the middle of a stormy sea, staring out towards a cave. Harry saw dangerous cliffs surrounding him, and felt the harsh rip of the salty wind in his hair. Slowly, he looked around, surveying the area. It looked like the perfect place to hide a Horcrux. The whole area reeked with the smell of death.


	18. The Cave

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 18 – The Cave**

Harry was led by Dumbledore to the edge of the rock which they were standing on. With a careful climb down, and an assurance to Dumbledore that he didn't mind getting wet, they both plunged into the icy water below and began to swim.

They swam until they reached a spot which held stairs, leading into the cave. Harry walked silently up the steps, his body drenched and cold, the smell of the sea clinging to him.

"Yes, this is the place," Dumbledore whispered, his words echoing slightly in the empty space.

"How do you know?" Harry asked, but he thought he might already know the answer.

"Magic leaves traces, Harry," the old man replied, confirming Harry's assumptions. The whole place had an eerie touch to it, one very much like that of which he experienced in his dreams… his dreams in which Draco and Dumbledore were dead.

Harry shivered as the memory of Trelawney saying she had heard someone celebrating in the Room of Requirement rushed back to him. This could be the last night he saw Dumbledore…

But Dumbledore had soon spoken, reviving Harry from his thoughts. "Yes, I think that's it…"

"What, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Blood," Dumbledore replied. "In order to enter, we must make ourselves weaker. We must give blood for the entrance to where the Horcrux is to open." Dumbledore shook his head and Harry saw that the look upon his face bore disdain, even disappointment. "Voldemort still fails to recognize that physical pain is not as bad as other pain… he does not realize that there are much stronger ways of weakening an opponent."

Harry saw that Dumbledore was now bringing a knife down upon his own skin, to cut the flesh, to produce blood. Harry began to protest, but in seconds, Dumbledore's blood began flowing from his arm, only to be healed just as Snape had healed Draco's wounds when Harry had used Sectumsempra. For a moment the shameful and scary memory of Draco soaked in his own crimson blood filled Harry's mind and Dumbledore's words seemed to echo in his brain, "physical pain is not as bad as other pain, not as bad as other pain_, as other pain…" _Memories. Mental pain.

But Harry's thoughts were abandoned once more as him and Dumbledore entered the room beyond, the room that the blood had opened them up to. There was a lake. There was an empty silence. There was a darkness more dense than Harry had ever experienced before.

Dumbledore and Harry walked the perimeter, their footsteps and occasional words the only thing breaking the misty silence. Then, Dumbledore stopped so abruptly that Harry actually ran into him.

"So sorry," Dumbledore whispered, "But I think I have found the place."

Harry did not ask what "the place" was, and he did not need to. Dumbledore had bent over and tapped something with his wand. In mere seconds, a chain was sliding through Dumbledore's hands, pulling a small boat out of the depths of the water.

"How did you know that was there?" Harry found himself asking, but once again, he already knew the answer.

"Magic leaves traces, Harry," Dumbledore repeated, beginning to climb carefully into the boat. Harry hesitated, not sure it was safe, but after reassurance from the powerful wizard, Harry climbed in besides him.

The boat began to move. "Do not touch the water, Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, noticing Harry staring down at the dark contents of the lake.

"Professor!" Harry suddenly shouted, "I believe I just saw a human –" He had been about to say 'hand', but another sight made him stop speaking abruptly. A body. A dead, lifeless body was floating nearby, its face mere inches underneath the surface.

"But, there are bodies in here!" Harry found himself shouting in a voice much higher than usual.

"Bodies are not to be feared," Dumbledore replied calmly.

"But aren't the bodies protecting the Horcrux?"

"They are not to be feared yet. I feel that they will be less peaceful once the Horcrux has been retrieved… but for now, they are mere lifeless bodies floating peacefully in the water," Dumbledore said.

Harry did not say anything more for the time being, but his thoughts swirled with the events that had taken place that evening… about giving his friends the liquid luck… now he wished he had said a better goodbye to them. And he hadn't seen Draco at all…

Soon the boat had stopped and they carefully departed. They found themselves on a rock and next to them a basin, glittering with emerald contents. Dumbledore extended his hand to touch the emerald potion within the basin and Harry saw his fingers stop. There seemed to be a barrier, stopping anyone from going within a certain distance of the grotesque liquid. Then, Dumbledore conjured a goblet.

"This potion must be drunk," he announced. Harry gaped at him.

"Sir! No! It could kill you!"

"Harry, Voldemort would not have wanted to immediately kill whoever finds his Horcrux. This potion is going to make the drinker suffer. It poses the purpose to stop them getting the Horcrux. To kill them immediately would be foolish… for then Voldemort would not get to find out how they had penetrated his other barriers."

"But sir –"

"Harry, do you remember the conditions in which I said you could come with me?" Dumbledore questioned.  
"Yes."

"Then you must do as I say. You must feed me the potion. And keep feeding it to me. No matter what happens."

"But –"

"Give me your word Harry."

"But sir –"

"Your word."

"Yes," said Harry quietly. "I will continue to give you the potion." He looked into the old man's blue eyes. "No matter what happens," he added quietly.

Harry began to feed the potion to Dumbledore. For the first few goblets, it was alright. But halfway through the fourth one, Dumbledore collapsed. His face was twitching, his eyes closed tight and his lips moving quietly. "Please… don't make me… please."

Harry forced his hands to take the potion back to Dumbledore's lips. Harry forced himself to pour the rest of the liquid down into Dumbledore's mouth. Harry forced himself to give Dumbledore the potion. He forced himself to ignore Dumbledore's pleas, his pale face, his broken words.

Harry's nightmares were replaying themselves in his mind as he forced the potion down the man's throat, now mixed with this new terrifying experience… this real experience, not just a hazy dream.

"KILL ME!" Dumbledore suddenly shouted and Harry almost dropped the goblet from his hands.

"This one… this one will," he trembled, his shaking hands forcing the last cupful of potion down Dumbledore's throat. And then Dumbledore took a great, shuttering gasp and was silent.

"No!" Harry screamed, "Sir! Dumbledore! You said it wasn't poison! Please, please don't be dead…" Harry felt deep, shuttering breaths erupting from his body. He knew that Dumbledore might die this year… but not at his own hands… it would be Draco doing the job. But only now it struck Harry. Dead. Death. What it all meant…

"Water," came a croaked whisper. Harry looked over. Dumbledore wasn't dead! He had spoken… and he needed water.

"Of course sir!" said Harry, snapping out of his own thoughts for the countless time that night. He then pointed his wand at the goblet. "Aguamenti!" But the goblet merely filled and emptied itself.

"Water," croaked Dumbledore again. Harry had no choice. He plunged the goblet into the water surrounding them, and only after having tipped some of the cool substance down Dumbledore's throat did he feel the slimy hands grabbing his body.

He looked behind him and saw it; an army of dead, lifeless women, men and children were advancing on him, their eyes a scary resemblance of those which Dumbledore from Harry's nightmares bore. Harry was being dragged into the water, being pulled back by the dead. He screamed every spell that came to mind at them, but the spells did nothing. His vision was losing him in this time of panic, the bodies seemed to morph, they seemed to become those of dead Draco and dead Dumbledore from Harry's dreams… and there was nothing Harry could do to stop them. Nothing at all. All Harry could see was the dead pulling him onwards, and then a crimson blaze erupting from somewhere behind him.

"I'm sorry," Harry croaked moments later to Dumbledore; they were both safely outside the cave, back on the rock which they had first arrived on. "I had forgotten about the fire."

"It's alright, Harry," whispered Dumbledore weakly. "We got the Horcrux." He held up the locket which he was grasping and slipped it into his robes. Harry then grabbed Dumbledore's arm and thought harder than he ever had about going somewhere. And in moments, they had Apparated back to Hogsmeade. And for one shimmering moment, Harry thought everything was going to be alright.


	19. The LightningStruck Tower

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 19 – The Lightning-Struck Tower**

But that moment was soon gone. Madame Rosemerta came running from The Three Broomsticks up to them, and then, taking in what they looked like, questioned, "What's wrong Albus?"

Dumbledore was leaning against Harry. He was weak. So weak.

"He needs help, I need to get him to the castle!" Harry said quickly.

"But you can't do that dear," Rosemerta replied, looking shocked. "Haven't you seen? Haven't you heard?"

"What, Miss Rosemerta?" said Dumbledore quietly, all his effort being put into talking.

"The Dark Mark," she whispered back quietly.

And Harry looked up. Sure enough, there it was, the sign of Death Eaters… the sign of a Murder, hanging above the school, above Hogwarts. Images flashed through his mind. Anger bubbled up inside of him. This was Draco's fault. All Draco's fault. He saw flashes of his friends, lying dead and broken. He saw Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Dean, Seamus… and Draco. What if the Death Eaters had decided to kill Draco? Harry wouldn't put it past some of them to want the glory of killing Dumbledore themselves. And the anger in Harry was now bubbling into something else. Into horror, regret and worry. He had to get to the castle. He had to see if everything was alright.

Dumbledore seemed to think the same. In moments, they were back at the school, on the topmost tower, the Skull hanging over them.

"Severus," Dumbledore whispered, clutching his chest. "I need, Severus. And keep your Invisibility Cloak on. Do not speak to anyone. Just Severus…"

"But –" Harry began, but the look on Dumbledore's face made him stop talking. "Yes sir."

Harry threw his Cloak over him and was about to bound into the Castle when a sudden cry from a familiar voice forced him to stop.

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry's entire body froze. Not from the shock, but because Dumbledore had cast a spell on him to immobilize him before his wand had flown from his hand. Harry was invisible, and stuck… only able to watch the horrific events and not able to do anything about them.

Harry watched as Draco said he had back up. He watched as Dumbledore greeted Draco's words with his own words of wisdom. He watched as Dumbledore chuckled, "You're not a killer, Draco."

"How do you know?" Draco replied immediately, but Harry knew the words did not mean anything. They were talk, just talk… Draco was stalling.

"You don't know what I've done!" Draco yelled.

"Yes, I do," Dumbledore replied. "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley."

Harry saw Draco's skin flush a dull pink in the green light. Draco looked ashamed, but in moments his feelings were once again covered up; protected by the mask all Slytherin's knew how to put on.

Harry watched, his heart beating faster and faster as Dumbledore and Draco continued to do nothing but talk. Draco explained his plan. How he had used the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement to get Death Eaters into the school. Harry silently cursed himself for not having figured that out. But what would he have done if he had known? Would he have tried to stop Draco? Harry knew he wouldn't have…

"I can help you, Draco," Dumbledore whispered and broke Harry out of his own thoughts. Harry had said those exact words to Draco.

"No you can't!" Draco replied, "I have to do this! He'll kill my whole family!"

"We can protect you Draco. The Order."

Harry held his breath, willing Draco to accept. Draco would be safe… he could live at Grimmauld Place with Harry… maybe they would even get to share a bedroom...

"But I've gotten this far," Draco whispered. "They all said I'd die in the attempt… but I didn't, did I?"

Dumbledore's answer was never heard as suddenly, the door behind Draco flew open and four Death Eaters walked in. This was it. Draco would have to do it now.

"Do it, Draco!" came the taunting jeers of the Death Eaters, but they were silenced as another figure joined them. Severus Snape.

"Severus…" came a struggled whisper. Everyone was silent. "Severus…please…" Dumbledore was begging, pleading.

"Avada Kadavra!" came Snape's voice and Harry sat there, eyes open in shock as the spell his Dumbledore and the old man fell backwards, over the banister, the last time Harry would ever see him was the moment he died in the hands of someone he thought was his friend.

Harry suddenly realized he could move again; the curse must have broken when Dumbledore had died. He saw the Death Eaters retreating, until only Draco was left, standing numbly by the edge of the banister, tears shimmering in his eyes.

Harry threw the Cloak off him and ran over to Draco, whose eyes widened as he looked around. "Harry, they'll be back when they see I'm not with them," he whispered, gulping. "Meet me in the farthest Charms classroom on the fifth floor," he whispered and then bounded back after the Death Eaters.

Harry rushed the other way, jumping down the stairs two at a time, not caring what happened or who saw him; he needed to get to that classroom. One thought swirled in his mind, "Why this classroom? Why here?" But as he rounded the last corner, and the room Draco had talked about came into view, Harry whispered, "Oh," quietly as he realized what room this was. It was the room in which Draco and Harry had shared their first kiss.


	20. Kill me, Harry

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Chapter 20 - Kill me, Harry**

Harry entered the room and quietly sat down on a desk. He looked around. The decor was the same; almost nothing had changed since he had last been in here and yet, his life had changed almost entirely.

Draco suddenly entered the room, his eyes shining with tears, a rushed and scared look on his face. He looked young, fragile, broken, destroyed. Carefully, he locked the door with a quick spell, and cast a few extra protective enchantments around the room before facing Harry.

"What is it, Draco?" Harry asked, jumping down from the desk and standing up.

Draco came over and hurriedly pressed his lips to Harry's. But in a moment, he broke off. He looked deeply into Harry's eyes, his own shining with fear. He shook his head slightly, tears threatening to cascade down his face. He stepped backwards, back towards the door, but stopped and turned to look at Harry once more.

"What is it?" Harry repeated again. Draco seemed to not know what to do with himself. He seemed so helpless, so _broken_.

Draco didn't know how to say it; he didn't know how to explain what he wanted from Harry. He felt exactly as he had before he had kissed Harry for the first time… only now things were different. What he wanted was different.

Slowly, he walked back to where he had stood before, closer to the raven-haired boy. Stepping closer and closer. Harry stayed where he was as an eerie feeling of déjà vu took over him, a feeling that he seemed to share with the blonde.

Draco was once again so close to Harry. He took Harry's hands into his own; their bodies were so close together. Draco's eyes shimmered, his breathing was slightly shaky. Harry could hear his heart beating in the silence which was soon broken by a whisper.

"Kill me, Harry."

And Harry did. He didn't know what made him do it, but as soon as the blonde had whispered the command to him, he had obliged. Just as he had when Draco had asked Harry to kiss him for the first time.

Slowly, Harry took out his wand, but he did not use it to do the job; he was going to do this right. He merely used the wand to conjure a knife. A shimmering, silver dagger that gleamed in the soft light issued around the classroom. Draco stood, still close to him, watching his every move but not stepping away or taking back his motion.

Harry then slipped his wand into his pocket, holding the newly formed dagger in his hands. With one hand, he took Draco's hands in his own, so that both their wrists were facing upwards. Then, with his other hand, he brought the knife over Draco's and his own wrists, slicing deeply into the skin.

Immediately, blood rushed from their wrists, spurting out and hitting the ground as if rain falling from a thunderstorm. A brutally red and metallic thunderstorm.

Neither boys gasped out in pain, nor did they say anything to one another, but Draco had soon collapsed to his knees. Harry used his last ounce of effort to cut his other wrist. Then, he to collapsed as well.

For a moment, they both stayed like that, on their knees, facing each other, their fingers just scraping the ground as streams of blood flowed from each wrist, onto their hands and created a river of scarlet on the cold, rock floor. Still not a sound was uttered from either of them.

Then, in his last moments on earth, Draco forced himself to move. He forced his body to take the few necessary steps to get him to Harry. The pain was immeasurable, impossible to describe, but Draco had felt it before, and at that time he had also been in the presence of Harry. And that time it was worse, as the deep cuts were over his entire body, not only on his wrists and Harry was not facing the pain with him. This was less painful than Sectumsempera had been.

As Draco reached Harry, They placed their heads together, forehead to forehead, staring into each other's eyes. There was blood everywhere now. Their clothes were drenched in the dark, crimson liquid. Harry moved his head slightly, kissing Draco quickly and softly, before they both lost consciousness and lay, side by side, hand in hand as they slowly lost enough blood to kill them both.

* * *

Harry opened his eyes to find himself in what looked like the Kings Cross Station, only much whiter and cleaner. Slowly, he stood up and glanced around, the sight of another boy doing the same thing only a few paces away greeting his eyes. The boy walked closer to Harry and immediately, Harry recognized who it was; Draco Malfoy. Before Harry could even begin to comprehend what was happening, Draco uttered the question now rising in Harry's mind, "What's going on?"


	21. Last Chapter The Final Decision

**Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry**

**Last Chapter - The Final Decision**

Harry came closer to Draco, ignoring his question of "What's going on?" At the moment, although he was asking himself the same thing, he just wanted to see that Draco was alright.

Carefully, he took a lock of the blonde's soft hair into his hands and then dropped it, noticing that his wrists were smooth and empty, bearing no cuts or even scars. He took Draco's hands within his own and noticed that they too were clean and injury-free. Then, he slowly unbuttoned Draco's shirt which was a pure, clean white and no longer covered in blood. He saw that the scars on Draco's chest had gone too.

"Harry, your scar?" Draco suddenly asked and Harry reached his hand to his head, only to find that his own scar was no longer present.

"Where are we? What is this?" Draco asked quietly. For the first time since they had arrived, Harry looked around. The place was misty, but it wasn't a normal mist… and there was a small struggling thumping noise coming from somewhere, but Harry ignored that.

"Draco, I think we – we," Harry began, "are dead."

Draco nodded silently.

"But Draco, I also think something else."

Draco looked up.

"Draco – I – I know this might sound crazy but – I – I had a dream a while back… in which you said part of me was a Horcrux… but then… then you shifted into Voldemort…"

Draco looked confused.

"Look… I've been learning all about Voldemort's past this year and… I'm pretty sure a piece of me… I mean a piece of him, his soul, lives within me…"

Harry was silent, as was Draco. Harry felt… well… he felt as if he could go back, whatever that meant.

"But, Harry…" Draco whispered, "If that is true…"

"It means I can go back…" Harry finished for him. "It means that I didn't die, but the piece of him inside me did…I meant to die. I think he might have had to kill me… but if I killed myself, which I did… I meant to die… I think that's how it works." Harry looked into the shimmering grey eyes that belonged to Draco.

"We can go back!" Harry shouted in triumph.

Draco shook his head. "No," he whispered. "_You _can go back… I do not have another soul to die for me. I am dead."

Harry's triumphant face fell. His mouth curved downwards as he realized what this meant.

"But…" Harry whispered, "I – maybe – I can bring you back too?"

Draco looked up at Harry. "Harry… you live whilst the Dark Lord lives because he took your blood to rebuild his body. Yes, I know about that. And then, when you killed yourself, like you explained, _you_ didn't die, but the piece of the Dark Lord's soul did. Which means… you are now just you. And you have a choice. To live, or to die?"

Harry looked at Draco, "You're kind of smart… are you sure you shouldn't be in Ravenclaw?"

"I'm a Slytherin, Harry. But, that's beside the point. Are you going to stay, or go?"

"I –" Harry stopped, trying to figure everything out, to comprehend everything. A piece of Voldemort had lived inside him… he had killed himself; he had _meant _to die. And Draco had died too. Except, Harry had only killed the _Voldemort_ inside him… and Voldemort had his blood… which meant he was still _alive._ But, he had a choice. Draco had said he had a choice. And Harry could almost feel it… he could almost feel himself returning to the real world. But… he didn't know if he wanted to. Not if Draco had to stay here.

Draco continued to stare at Harry, anticipating his answer. Harry thought of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, the Weasleys… he thought of everyone who would be sad to see him go. He thought of everyone he would miss. But he would miss Draco so much more… he missed his parents, Sirius and Dumbledore was dead now too… it would even be nice to see Cedric again and now he could. He could see them all again… and he and Draco could be together. Not in secret, not this on-off relationship, but truly together…

Harry looked once more into Draco's eyes. He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again. He should save the Wizarding World. He had to find Horcruxes, he had to help Voldemort fall.

But what about Draco? What about his own feelings?

There were only three more Horcruxes to find and four to destroy. He had destroyed the diary, Dumbledore had destroyed the ring, now the Horcrux within Harry was gone… and they had found the locket…

Draco did not say anything. He just stood, staring at Harry, waiting for the decision. He was not going to plead or beg Harry to stay with him. This was Harry's choice.

Harry opened his mouth to speak once more to confirm his selection. He had made a decision which was so uncharacteristically Slytherin. Maybe the Sorting Hat had been right in his first year…maybe Gryffindor was not where he belonged.

"Draco," Harry whispered. The blonde was hanging onto his every word. "I'm – I'm staying."

Draco flung his arms around Harry's neck. "Kiss me, Harry," he whispered and Harry brought his lips to the blonde's. After a moment, they heard what appeared to be a train approaching. Draco and Harry broke apart and looked at the train.

"I think we should board," Harry decided, taking Draco's hand within his own.

"And where would it take us?" Draco asked.

"On."


End file.
